Obama cans Putin talks over Snowden

President Barack Obama has cancelled talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next month, highlighting deteriorating relations between the two powers after the saga of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)取消了下月与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)的会谈，凸显美国国家安全局(NSA)泄密者爱德华•斯诺登(Edward Snowden)事件后两国关系恶化。

The White House said in a statement yesterday that Mr Obama would attend the G20 summit in St Petersburg on September 5 and 6 but would skip a bilateral summit with Mr Putin in Moscow, in part because of “Russia’s disappointing decision” to award Mr Snowden temporary asylum last week.

白宫在昨天的一份声明中表示，奥巴马将参加9月5日和6日在圣彼得堡举行的G20峰会，但将不在莫斯科与普京举行双边峰会，部分原因是上周“俄罗斯令人失望地”为斯诺登提供临时庇护。

The statement also listed a series of other areas where it said there had not been enough diplomatic progress, including missile defence, arms control and human rights.

声明还罗列了其他因素，指出双方在导弹防御、军备控制和**方面缺乏足够的外交进展。

In an appearance on NBC’s Tonight show on Tuesday, Mr Obama said: “There have been times where they slip back into cold war thinking.”

奥巴马周二在美国全国广播公司(NBC)电视节目《今夜秀》(Tonight Show)中表示：“他们有时会倒退回冷战思维。”

Mr Obama also criticised a new Russian law cracking down on gay rights activism, saying he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays and lesbians and transgendered persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them”.

奥巴马还批评了俄罗斯一部打击同性恋维权活动的新法律，称他“受不了那些试图恫吓或伤害男女同性恋和变性人的国家”。

The Obama administration’s decision is being presented as a Snowden-related snub to Mr Putin, who might have derived political gain from hosting the an American presidential visit.

奥巴马政府的决定被形容为在斯诺登问题上对普京表现出冷落。普京原本可能通过迎接美国总统来访而在政治上得分。

But the furore over Mr Snowden is also a potentially serious blow to the diplomatic plans of the Obama administration, which has highlighted co-operation with Russia as a central element in its approach to Syria and Iran.

但斯诺登事件引起的轩然大波，潜在也沉重打击了奥巴马政府的外交计划，它曾将美俄合作视为解决叙利亚和伊朗问题的核心要素。

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said the only parallel decision he could think of was when then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev called off a summit with Dwight Eisenhower in 1960.

莫斯科卡内基中心(Moscow Carnegie Centre)负责人德米特里•特列宁(Dmitri Trenin)称，他能想到的唯一类似决定是前苏联领导人尼基塔•赫鲁晓夫(Nikita Khrushchev)1960年取消与德怀特•艾森豪威尔(Dwight Eisenhower)的峰会。