普京夫婦向記者證實二人已經離婚
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife said Thursday they are separating after nearly three decades of marriage, setting the stage for the first divorce of a Russian leader since Peter the Great and bringing an end to years of speculation about the state of the couple's union.
俄羅斯總統普京(Vladimir Putin)和妻子週四說，在結婚近30年後，他們兩人將分道揚鑣。普京可能成爲彼得大帝(Peter the Great)以來首位離婚的俄羅斯領導人，多年來外界對於這對夫婦婚姻狀況的猜測也將隨之畫上句號。'It was our joint decision,' Mr. Putin, 60 years old, said in a rare interview alongside his wife, 55-year-old Lyudmila Putina, who explained that the marriage had ended because they 'barely see one another.'
60歲的普京少有地與55歲的妻子柳德米拉•普京娜(Lyudmila Putina)一起接受採訪。他說，這是我們兩人的共同決定。他的妻子解釋說，兩人的婚姻結束是因爲他們很少見到對方。The couple made the surprise announcement in a brief appearance after a performance of the ballet 'La Esmeralda' at the Kremlin theater. After a few questions about the dance elicited enthusiastic replies, the reporter from state-run Rossiya-24 television asked about rumors that the first couple no longer lived together.
普京夫婦是在克里姆林宮劇院芭蕾舞劇《艾絲美拉達》(La Esmeralda)演出結束後的短暫露面中宣佈這一出人意料的消息的。在幾個有關表演的問題得到熱情迴應後，俄羅斯國有電視臺Rossiya-24的記者問到有關普京夫婦已經不住在一起的傳言。
Mr. Putin, who for years has angrily batted away personal questions, confirmed that they live apart. Explaining their decision, the Putins spoke somewhat awkwardly, looking at one another for cues, as Russians heard for the first time a public admission of discord within the secretive first family.
普京證實兩人已分居。在解釋他們的這一決定時，普京夫婦說話有些侷促不安，看向對方尋找暗示。這是俄羅斯公衆首次聽到行事隱祕的第一家庭公開承認存在不和。多年來，每當被問到私人問題時，普京總是不悅地避而不談。The pair's two daughters, 28-year-old Maria and 26-year-old Yekaterina, have been hidden from view to such an extent that few in Russia know what they look like. Mr. Putin said the couple 'loves their children and is very proud of them,' noting that they now lead their own lives in Russia. Mrs. Putina thanked him for supporting her and her daughters.
普京夫婦的兩個女兒──28歲的瑪麗亞(Maria)和26歲的葉卡捷琳娜(Yekaterina)一直遠離公衆視野，俄羅斯幾乎沒有人知道她們長什麼樣。普京說，他們夫婦愛孩子併爲她們感到驕傲。他指出，兩個女兒目前在俄羅斯過着自己的生活。普京的妻子感謝他支持自己和兩個女兒。Asked if they were divorcing, Mrs. Putina said, 'you could call it a civilized divorce,' without elaborating. Mr. Putin nodded and ended the interview.
記者問普京夫人他們是否將離婚，她說，你可以稱之爲文明的離婚。她沒有進一步詳細說明。普京點頭，結束了採訪。Neither explained the timing of their announcement.
普京夫婦都沒有解釋他們爲何選擇此時宣佈這個消息。Mr. Putin suggested his work has led to his marriage's demise. 'All my activity and work is tied to publicity, absolute publicity,' he said. 'Some people like that and others don't. But there are some people for whom it's completely incompatible,' Mr. Putin said, gesturing toward his wife.
普京暗示，他的工作導致了婚姻的終結。他說，我所有的活動和工作都有公衆性質、絕對的公衆性。普京說，有些人喜歡這樣，有些人不喜歡。但對有些人來說則是完全不能相容的。他朝自己的太太示意了一下。Mrs. Putina confirmed that she finds it difficult to appear in front of people. She also said it is hard for her to fly, though she was once a stewardess.
普京的夫人證實她不願公開露面。她還說，她不願坐飛機，雖然她曾是一名空乘。Mr. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, suggested the Russian leader had become married to his work. 'It's no secret and everyone knows that he long ago devoted himself to the country, as pompous as that may sound,' he told the Lifenews website.
普京的發言人佩斯科夫(Dmitry Peskov)暗示，普京已經與他的工作結合。他對Lifenews網站說，這可能聽起來有些像自誇，但衆所周知，他很早以前就把自己獻給了國家，這不是祕密。The announcement comes at a time when the Russian government is trying to promote traditional family values, in part to prop up the country's sluggish birthrate. Russia has a population of 143 million and has one of the world's highest divorce rates. In 2012, Russia saw 1.2 million marriages and 642,000 divorces, according to federal statistics.
普京夫婦宣佈這一消息時恰逢俄羅斯政府努力宣揚傳統家庭價值觀之際，這一定程度上是爲了提高俄羅斯低迷的出生率。俄羅斯現有1.43億人口，離婚率位居世界前列。據俄羅斯聯邦統計數據顯示，2012年，俄羅斯有120萬對新人結婚，642,000對夫婦離婚。In the past, Mr. Putin appeared at Russian Orthodox Easter services with his wife. But Mrs. Putina didn't attend the most recent service this spring. The Russian Orthodox Church permits divorce in some circumstances.
過去，普京總與妻子一起出席俄羅斯東正教復活節儀式。但普京夫人沒有出席今年春天的最近一次儀式。俄羅斯東正教教會允許教徒在某些情況下離婚。Mr. Peskov said Thursday that the couple has yet to file for divorce officially.
佩斯科夫週四說，普京夫婦尚未正式申請離婚。The announcement brings an end to a marriage that has been the subject of speculation for years in Russia and abroad. Until Thursday, Mr. Putin and the Kremlin vehemently denied periodic tabloid reports of marital stress or even plans for divorce. Mr. Putin, meanwhile, has cultivated an athletic, tough-guy image with appearances flying planes, riding horses and wrangling wild animals.
多年來俄羅斯國內外圍繞普京夫婦婚姻一直存在猜測。直到週四之前，對於小報上時而出現的有關普京夫婦婚姻關係緊張甚至計劃離婚的報道，普京和克里姆林宮都予以強烈否認。與此同時，普京樹立了一種強健的硬漢形象，人們不時可以看到他開飛機、騎馬和與野獸搏鬥的畫面。After one Moscow paper reported in 2008 that Mr. Putin had split with his wife and was planning to marry a gymnast many years his junior, Mr. Putin responded angrily.
2008年，莫斯科一家報紙報道說，普京已經與妻子分開，並計劃與一位比自己小很多的體操運動員結婚，普京對此做出了憤怒的迴應。'There's a private life that no one's allowed to mess with,' he said at the time. 'I have always had a negative attitude toward those who reach into the lives of others with their fluey noses and erotic fantasies.' The newspaper was closed by its owner within days.
他當時說，每個人都有私生活，是不許別人干涉的。對於那些用自己毛茸茸的鼻子和性幻想窺探別人生活的人，我一直抱着否定的態度。幾天內，這家報紙就被其所有者停刊了。In the initial years after Mr. Putin became president in 2000, Mrs. Putina accompanied her husband on major trips and made a number of appearances in public. But like nearly all her predecessors, with the exception of Mikhail Gorbachev's wife, Raisa, she stayed away from political matters and avoided the limelight.
2000年普京出任總統後的頭幾年，他的夫人曾隨他進行重要出訪，並多次在公開場合露面。但與幾乎所有的俄羅斯總統夫人一樣──除了戈爾巴喬夫(Mikhail Gorbachev)的夫人賴莎(Raisa)，她遠離政治事務，避免受到關注。Mrs. Putina's absences grew even longer when her husband served as prime minister from 2008 to 2012. Their last public appearance together before Thursday was Mr. Putin's presidential inauguration in May 2012, the Interfax news agency reported.
2008年至2012年，普京擔任俄羅斯總理期間，普京夫人缺席公開活動的時間變得更多。據國際文傳電訊社(Interfax)報道，週四之前，他們最後一次一起公開露面是在2012年5月普京的總統宣誓就職儀式上。The couple married on July 28, 1983. Vladimir was a young KGB officer from Leningrad. Lyudmila was a stewardess from Kaliningrad. They met through friends at a concert when Mrs. Putina made a trip to Leningrad, and later struck up a long-distance relationship by phone, with Mrs. Putina flying back and forth to see her new crush, according to a Kremlin-sanctioned biography released in 2000.
普京夫婦於1983年7月28日結婚。當時，普京是列寧格勒的一個年輕克格勃官員。柳德米拉是加里寧格勒的一個空乘。據2000年出版的一本克里姆林宮批准的傳記說，柳德米拉去列寧格勒時，兩人在一個音樂會上經朋友介紹認識，之後兩人通過電話保持異地戀，柳德米拉經常飛去看普京。In the book, Mrs. Putina recalled one special night after 3½ years of dating. The two sat down at his house.
在這本書中，普京夫人回憶了兩人戀愛三年半後的一個特殊夜晚。當時兩人在普京家裏坐着。'I'm generally not a very convenient person,' she recalled him saying. 'Then he went on to list all his self-characterizations─silent, sometimes pretty cutting, sometimes hurtful, and so on.'
她回憶道，普京說，我通常不是一個容易相處的人，之後他開始羅列自己的各種性格特點──沉默寡言，有時非常尖銳，有時非常傷人，等等。She thought they were breaking up, but instead Mr. Putin proposed. The young stewardess said yes to the Soviet agent, acknowledging she was about to marry 'a risky life partner.'
她以爲兩人是要分手，但普京卻向她求了婚。這位年輕的空乘同意了這位蘇聯特工的求婚，她承認自己即將嫁給一個危險的人生伴侶。
