The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
本文作者是布鲁金斯学会(Brookings Institution)高级研究员
The poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, has brought Russian relations with western countries to a perilous impasse.
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)的著名批评者阿列克谢•纳瓦尔尼(Alexei Navalny)被毒害，使俄罗斯与西方国家的关系陷入危险的僵局。
After doctors in Berlin identified the substance used as a military-grade nerve agent of the novichok group, German chancellor Angela Merkel issued a sharp condemnation: Mr Navalny was “meant to be silenced”, she said, adding: “this raises very difficult questions that only the Russian government can answer, and must answer”.
在柏林的医生确定使用的物质是军用级诺维乔克类神经毒剂后，德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)发出了严厉的谴责：纳瓦尔尼“是被蓄意封口”。她补充说：“这提出了非常棘手的问题，只有俄罗斯政府才能回答，而且必须回答”。
German cabinet ministers raised the possibility of stopping the controversial gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 — an idea Ms Merkel now refuses to rule out. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov flatly rejected the notion. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian parliament, accused “foreign powers” of “creating tensions”. Kremlin-controlled media is churning out disinformation.
德国内阁部长们提出了停止有争议的天然气管道项目北溪2号(Nord Stream 2)的可能性——默克尔现在不排除这一想法。克里姆林宫发言人德米特里•佩斯科夫(Dmitry Peskov)断然驳斥了这一想法。俄罗斯国家杜马主席维亚切斯拉夫•沃洛金(Vyacheslav Volodin)指责“外国势力制造紧张局势”。克里姆林宫控制的媒体正在制造虚假信息。