紐時賞析／俄國逼迫烏克蘭人 接受俄式生活

How the Kremlin Is Forcing Ukrainians to Adopt Russian Life

俄國逼迫烏克蘭人接受俄式生活

They have handed out Russian passports, cellphone numbers and set-top boxes for watching Russian television. They have replaced Ukrainian currency with the ruble, rerouted the internet through Russian servers and arrested hundreds who have resisted assimilation.

他們發出俄國護照、手機門號和觀看俄國電視用的機上盒。他們已用盧布取代烏克蘭貨幣，把網路經由俄國伺服器傳送，並逮捕數百名抵抗同化的人。

In ways big and small, the occupying authorities on territory won by Moscow’s forces are using fear and indoctrination to compel Ukrainians to adopt a Russian way of life. “We are one people,” blue-white-and-red billboards say. “We are with Russia.”

透過各種大大小小的方式，莫斯科部隊占領區的執政當局，正利用恐懼和洗腦，壓迫烏克蘭人接受俄國生活方式。「我們是同一個民族」，藍白紅三色的看板寫道，「我們與俄國同在」。

Now comes the next act in President Vladimir Putin’s 21st-century version of a war of conquest: the grassroots “referendum.”

如今俄國總統普亭的21世紀征服戰願景準備進行下一步：草根式「公投」。

Russia-appointed administrators in cities like Kherson in Ukraine’s south are setting the stage for a vote as early as September that the Kremlin will present as a popular desire to become part of Russia. They are recruiting pro-Russia locals for new “election commissions” and promoting to Ukrainian civilians the putative benefits of joining their country.

俄國在烏克蘭南部刻松等城市指派的官員，正安排一場最快9月舉行的投票，克里姆林宮將此包裝成大眾渴望成為俄國一分子。他們召募親俄的當地人，成立新的「選舉委員會」，並向烏克蘭平民宣傳加入他們國家的潛在好處。

Any referendum would be totally illegitimate, Ukrainian and Western officials say, but it would carry ominous consequences. Analysts in Moscow and Ukraine expect that it would serve as a prelude to Putin’s officially declaring the conquered area to be Russian territory, protected by Russian nuclear weapons — making future attempts by Ukraine to drive out Russian forces potentially much more costly.

烏克蘭和西方官員說，任何公投都是完全不合法，會帶來不良後果。莫斯科和烏克蘭的分析家預估，這會是普亭正式宣布將征服地區納入俄國領土的序幕，在俄國核武保護下，未來烏克蘭要趕走俄軍代價可能會更加慘烈。

Kherson is one of four regions in which officials are signaling planned referendums, along with Zaporizhzhia in the south and Luhansk and Donetsk in the east. While the Kremlin says it will be up to the area’s residents to “determine their own future,”

刻松是官員預告計畫舉辦公投的四個地區之一，其他包括南部的札波羅熱，以及東部的盧甘斯克和頓內次克。雖然克宮說，這些地區的居民「將決定他們自己的未來」。

As a result, a scramble to mobilize the residents of Russian-occupied territories for a referendum is increasingly visible on the ground.

正因如此，匆忙動員俄國占領區居民參加公投的行動，在當地已愈來愈明顯。

The Russian-appointed authorities of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, for instance, announced that they were forming “election commissions” to prepare for referendums, which one official said could happen Sept. 11 — a day when local and regional elections are scheduled to be held across Russia.

例如，札波羅熱和刻松地區的俄國指派當局宣布，他們正籌組「選舉委員會」，為公投作準備，一名官員說可能於9月11日舉行，這天是俄國預定全國舉行地方及區域選舉日。

“Russia is beginning to roll out a version of what you could call an annexation playbook,” John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said last month.

美國國家安全會議發言人柯比上月表示，「俄國開始大量鋪陳一個你可稱之為併吞劇本的版本」。

文／Anton Troianovski, Valerie Hopkins, Marc Santora and Michael Schwirtz 譯／莊蕙嘉