荷蘭外長因捏造普京言論辭職

The Dutch foreign minister stood down on Tuesday after admitting lying about a meeting in which he claimed President Vladimir Putin had laid out his aim for a “Greater Russia”.

荷蘭外交大臣哈爾伯•澤爾斯特拉(Halbe Zijlstra)周二宣布辭職。此前，他承認自己就一次會面撒了謊，他曾稱在那次會面上，俄羅斯總統(tǒng)弗拉基米爾•普京(Vladimir Putin)設定了其建立“大俄羅斯”的目標。

The resignation of Halbe Zijlstra, a key ally of Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, could weaken the Netherlands’ fragile four-party coalition government after only four months in office.

澤爾斯特拉是荷蘭首相馬克•呂特(Mark Rutte)的關鍵盟友，他的辭職可能會動搖荷蘭上臺才四個月的、根基不穩(wěn)的四黨聯(lián)合政府。

Mr Zijlstra on Monday admitted he had not told the truth in 2016 when he claimed that 10 years earlier he had heard Mr Putin express his expansionist ambitions at a meeting at the president’s dacha near Moscow.

澤爾斯特拉周一承認他在2016年沒有說實話，當時他聲稱10年前他在普京位于莫斯科附近的鄉(xiāng)間別墅的一次會面上聽到了這位總統(tǒng)的擴張主義野心。

Mr Putin was alleged to have said that Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states and Kazakhstan were parts of “Greater Russia” at a meeting with senior executives from energy giant Shell, where Mr Zijlstra worked as a contractor.

據稱普京在與能源巨頭殼牌(Shell)高管們的一次會面上表示，白俄羅斯、烏克蘭、波羅的海國家和哈薩克斯坦是“大俄羅斯”的組成部分。澤爾斯特拉當時在殼牌擔任承包商。

Mr Zijlstra made the claims while campaigning in the Dutch general election.

澤爾斯特拉是在荷蘭大選造勢期間說的這番話。

But Mr Zijlstra told the newspaper de Volkskrant on Monday he had lied about being present at the meeting. He said he had witnessed the comments first-hand to protect his source — former Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer — who was at the meeting. Mr van der Veer has since clarified the “Greater Russia” remarks were referring to Russia’s “historical” context.

但他周一向《人民報》(De Volkskrant)表示，他在出席那次會面的事情上撒了謊。他說他之所以說自己親耳聽見普京那么說，是因為要保護他的消息源，即前殼牌首席執(zhí)行官范德偉(Jeroen van der Veer)，后者出席了那次會面。范德偉后來澄清說，“大俄羅斯”言論指的是俄羅斯的“歷史”背景。

Mr Zijlstra had been due in Moscow on Wednesday for what would have been an awkward meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. But he told the Dutch parliament he was quitting his post forthwith.

澤爾斯特拉原定于周三在莫斯科與俄羅斯外長謝爾蓋•拉夫羅夫(Sergei Lavrov)會晤，若按原計劃進行，這將是一次尷尬的會面。但澤爾斯特拉向荷蘭議會表示自己將立即辭職。

Mr Zijlstra said he had made “the biggest mistake of my political life”.

他說，他犯了“自己政治生涯中最大的錯誤”。

"The Netherlands deserves a minister who is above any doubt,” he said, adding he was stepping down with “regret but full conviction in my heart”.

他表示：“荷蘭的大臣應當是無可指摘的。”他還說，自己帶著懊悔之意下臺，但心中充滿了信念。

Russia’s embassy in The Hague described Mr Zijlstra’s comments as the product of “someone’s inflamed imagination”.

俄羅斯駐海牙大使館稱，澤爾斯特拉的言論是“某人想象力爆棚”的產物。

“In the Netherlands, Russia is being blamed for disseminating disinformation. Dutch officials are constantly making such unfounded statements,” said the embassy in a statement.

該大使館發(fā)在一份聲明中表示：“在荷蘭，俄羅斯一直因不斷傳播的虛假消息而受到指責。荷蘭官員經常發(fā)表這種毫無根據的言論。

“This can only be heard from those who are interested in presenting Russia as an enemy and who under the pretext of the notorious ‘Russian threat’ keep pushing Nato military infrastructure eastwards, therefore consciously provoking military confrontation.”

“這些言論只能從那些有意把俄羅斯刻畫成敵人、以及那些以臭名昭著的‘俄羅斯威脅’為借口不斷向東推進北約(Nato)軍事基礎設施、從而有意識地挑起軍事對抗的人口中聽到。”

Relations between the Netherlands and Russia have been severely strained since the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight over Ukraine in 2014 with 196 Dutch passengers on board. Dutch investigators claimed the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists using a Russian missile.

2014年馬來西亞航空(Malaysian Airlines)一架班機在烏克蘭上空被擊落，機上有196名荷蘭乘客。自那時起，荷俄關系就陷入嚴重緊張。荷蘭調查人員稱，這架班機是親俄分離主義分子用一枚俄羅斯導彈擊落的。