普京稱美國調查國際足聯越俎代庖

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin sought to transform the burgeoning scandal over corruption in soccer's international governing body into an extension of the confrontation between Russia and the West on Thursday, accusing the United States of global overreach while invoking the fates of Edward J. Snowden and Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder.

莫斯科——本週四，俄羅斯總統普京試圖把國際足球管理機構新爆發的腐敗醜聞，變成俄羅斯和西方的對抗的一個延伸。他指責美國在國際上越權行事，並提到了愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J. Snowden)和維基解密(WikiLeaks)創始人朱利安·阿桑奇(Julian Assange)的命運。

Most world leaders remained mum, apparently waiting for more details to emerge, but Putin went on the offensive immediately. He used the moment to again portray Russia as under siege — in this case threatened with the humiliating loss of the right to host the 2018 World Cup, a move considered unlikely.

世界各國的大多數領導人都保持沉默，似乎是在等待更多的細節浮出水面，但普京立即發難，利用這個時機再次將俄羅斯形容爲四面受敵——這一次，是有可能喪失2018年世界盃的主辦權，令其顏面掃地。但外界認爲這其實不太可能。

Putin called the arrests of top FIFA officials in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday “another blatant attempt by the United States to extend its jurisdiction to other states,” according to a transcript of an overnight news conference posted on the Kremlin website.

普京稱，國際足聯高官本週三在瑞士蘇黎世被逮捕，是“美國對再一次把司法管轄權擴大到其他國家的公然嘗試，”克里姆林宮網站上張貼的隔夜新聞發佈會記錄顯示。

Putin also defended Sepp Blatter, the Swiss president of the organization, probably an important endorsement as he battles to retain the presidency in a vote scheduled for Friday amid the scandal. He was not among the soccer officials arrested.

普京還爲國際足聯主席、瑞士人賽普‧布拉特(Sepp Blatter)做了辯護，而這可能是對布拉特的一個重大支持。雖然發生了醜聞，布拉特仍努力爭取在本週五舉行的投票選舉中保住主席位置。他並不在被捕的足協官員之列。

Analysts saw various reasons for Putin to turn the FIFA scandal into a confrontation with the West.

分析師認爲，普京用國際足聯的醜聞來與西方對抗有兩個原因。

First, there is the distinct possibility that the Kremlin worries that the fallout from the scandal will cost Russia the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

首先，一個明顯的可能是，克里姆林宮擔心這起醜聞將導致俄羅斯喪失2018年世界盃主辦權。

Russia is expected to spend $11.5 billion on new stadiums and other infrastructure projects that have already started, according to government statistics. In the past, such lucrative contracts often went to Kremlin favorites.

政府的統計數據顯示，俄羅斯預計將花費115億美元修建新場館和其他基礎設施，一些項目已經啓動。在過去，這種利潤可觀的合同經常落入克里姆林宮寵信的人手中。

Second, Putin never misses an opportunity to portray Russia as under siege, playing on old Cold War fears, and the FIFA scandal dovetailed with that.

其次，普京從不錯過把俄羅斯形容爲遭受圍攻的機會，以激發人們從前冷戰時的恐懼，而國際足聯醜聞與這個策略相吻合。

The state-run media immediately chimed in to echo Putin's comments, with a report on Rossiya 24 noting sarcastically that the United States was remote from the general affairs of FIFA because it did not even play what the rest of the world calls football.

俄羅斯官方媒體馬上附和普京的觀點，俄羅斯24電視臺(Rossiya24)的一則報道諷刺地說，美國和國際足聯事務相隔遙遠，因爲它基本上就不玩其他國家所說的足球。