普京:俄羅斯不會引渡"自由人"斯諾登

Russia considers the former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden a free man and will not extradite him despite Washington charging him with spying, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, a move likely to deepen a diplomatic row dispute.

俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾•普京(Vladimir Putin)昨日稱，俄羅斯認爲美國前情報分析員愛德華•斯諾登(Edward Snowden)是個自由人，儘管美國指控他犯有間諜罪，但俄羅斯不會引渡他。此言很可能加深外交糾紛。

Mr Putin told a press conference in Finland that Mr Snowden was still in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after arriving there from Hong Kong on Sunday.

普京在芬蘭舉行的新聞發佈會上表示，週日從香港抵達莫斯科的斯諾登，仍然滯留在莫斯科謝列梅捷沃機場的轉機區域。

“Mr Snowden is a free man,” Mr Putin said. “The sooner he selects his final destination point, the better both for us and for himself.”

“斯諾登是一個自由的人，”普京表示，“他越快選擇最終目的地，對我們和他自己就越好。”

Russia and the US do not have an extradition treaty and so Moscow would not meet Washington’s request to return the former analyst to America.

俄羅斯和美國未簽署引渡條約，因此俄羅斯政府將不會應美方要求，將這位前情報分析員遣返回美國。

“We can only hand over foreign citizens to countries with which we have an appropriate international agreement on the extradition of criminals,” the president said.

普京稱：“我們只會將外國公民移交給那些與我們簽訂了引渡罪犯雙邊協議的國家。”

Russian agents had never worked with Mr Snowden, Mr Putin said, adding that he hoped the case, which has stirred a diplomatic dispute in recent days, would not affect relations with Washington, even though he described Washington’s criticism of Moscow for Mr Snowden’s evasion of arrest as “ravings and rubbish”.

普京稱，俄羅斯情報人員從未與斯諾登合作，並表示，希望近日引發外交糾紛的斯諾登一案不會影響俄美關係，即便他形容美國在斯諾登逃避逮捕一事上對俄羅斯的批評是“沒有意義的胡言亂語”。

Mr Putin’s comments came after Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, defended his country’s conduct in the affair.

之前，俄羅斯外長謝爾蓋•拉夫羅夫(Sergei Lavrov)爲本國在此事件上的行爲做出辯護。

“We consider the attempts to accuse the Russian side of violating US laws, and practically of involvement in a plot, to be absolutely groundless and unacceptable,” said Mr Lavrov, speaking at a joint news conference with Algeria’s foreign minister in Moscow.

拉夫羅夫在莫斯科與阿爾及利亞外長聯合舉行的新聞發佈會上表示：“我們認爲指控俄方違反美國法律、而且實際上指控俄方參與一個陰謀的企圖是沒有根據、不可接受的。”

He added: “There are no legal grounds for such conduct of US officials.”

他補充道：“美國官員的此類行爲缺乏法律依據。”

Beijing was equally scathing of the US. “The United States’ criticism of China’s central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it,” Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in Beijing yesterday. She has also rejected US criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Mr Snowden leave.

中國政府同樣對美國態度尖銳。外交部女發言人華春瑩昨日在北京表示：“美方對中國中央政府的指責缺乏依據，中方對此不能接受。”她還駁斥了美國對中國特別行政區香港允許斯諾登離境的批評。

Washington on Monday criticised both Moscow and Beijing for allowing Mr Snowden to evade arrest.

週一，美國政府指責中俄兩國放任斯諾登逃避逮捕。

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, toned down the rhetoric yesterday, calling for “calm and reasonableness” from Russia.

美國國務卿約翰•克里(John Kerry)昨日放緩語氣，呼籲俄羅斯方面展現出“冷靜與合理”。

“We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice,” Mr Kerry said at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.

克里在沙特阿拉伯舉行的新聞發佈會上表示：“我們希望俄羅斯不會支持一個逃避司法正義的人。”

In his comments yesterday, Mr Putin also suggested that Moscow sympathised with Mr Snowden from a civil rights perspective, drawing comparisons with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.

普京在昨天發表的評論中還暗示，俄方從公民權利的角度同情斯諾登，並且將他與維基解密(WikiLeaks)創始人朱利安•阿桑奇(Julian Assange)相提並論。

Mr Snowden has not been seen since he arrived at Moscow on Sunday afternoon on a flight from Hong Kong.

自週日下午乘機從香港抵達莫斯科以來，斯諾登一直沒有露面。

Washington has charged Mr Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence. All the charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

美國政府指控斯諾登竊取政府財產，未經授權傳播國家防務信息，故意透露機密情報。每項罪名最高可判處10年監禁。