美国国家公共电台 NPR--A flood of Russians arrive in Uzbekistan to avoid being drafted and sent to Ukraine

A flood of Russians arrive in Uzbekistan to avoid being drafted and sent to Ukraine

Transcript¹

While there are many people in Uzbekistan welcoming Russians fleeing conscription to the war in Ukraine, others are irritated by their presence.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

These are stressful times in the former Soviet² republics of Central Asia. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have arrived there in recent months to avoid being drafted to fight in the war in Ukraine. Some have already left. Many others are staying. NPR's Philip Reeves went to the capital of Uzbekistan, where he talked with Russian arrivals and their hosts.

PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE³: It's a dark and snowy night in Tashkent. But there is a pocket of warmth.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

REEVES: This is a bar where newly arrived Russians gather to swap⁴ stories and share tips about how to start a new life many hundreds of miles from home.

AZIZ: They don't know what to do. And this is truly a shock for them.

REEVES: That's Aziz (ph). He's asked NPR not to use his full name to avoid putting him in danger. For most of his life, he's lived in and around Moscow. He owns a coffee shop there. Now, though, he works here in this bar, mixing cocktails⁶ into the wee hours of the morning. Aziz's life changed overnight in September when President Vladimir Putin unveiled a plan to call up 300,000 reservists. Aziz and his family decided⁷ he had to leave Russia immediately.

AZIZ: (Speaking Russian).

REEVES: "It was a difficult decision," says Aziz, switching to Russian. He left behind a fiancee, family, friends and also, he says, the country he loves. Yet, he's certain it was the right thing to do.

AZIZ: (Speaking Russian).

REEVES: "I didn't want to participate in a contrived⁸, senseless and cruel war," he says. It's hard to establish precisely⁹ how many Russians have come to Uzbekistan. Their numbers fluctuate. Uzbek officials have said nearly 80,000 arrived in September alone. Russians are allowed in without a visa. Putin didn't try to prevent them leaving. From his viewpoint, that was the correct decision, says Uzbek economist¹⁰ Otabek Bakirov.

OTABEK BAKIROV: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: Better to have to leave than go on the streets shouting down with Putin.

BAKIROV: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: The Russians have landed in a very different country to their own, a Muslim-majority nation, the most populous¹¹ in Central Asia. Yet they share a painful history with it. Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union. Hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks were executed, jailed or dispatched to labor¹² camps, most during Stalin's rule.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in non-English language).

REEVES: In another Tashkent bar, a bust¹³ of Stalin stands on a shelf. Russians and Uzbeks sit at the tables while people perform Russian classics from Soviet times.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: Many in Uzbekistan, especially among the elderly, feel nostalgic about the past. Many support Putin's war. Even so, Russians arriving here to escape that war told NPR that most people welcome them - most, but not all.

NIKITA MAKARENKO: I don't want to see them. I don't want to help them.

REEVES: Journalist, playwright¹⁴ and moviemaker Nikita Makarenko is one of Uzbekistan's leading bloggers.

MAKARENKO: Whole problem is that they demand help. They literally¹⁵ demand help. Hey, we need your time. We need your cheap apartments. You need to help us to find jobs. Sorry, people, you need to help Ukrainians to win.

REEVES: That issue about taking over apartments is certainly a sore point among Tashkent residents. Fotima Qushboqeva (ph) makes her living by delivering food to traders in the city's largest market. The influx¹⁶ of Russians has sent her rent soaring.

FOTIMA QUSHBOQEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: "It's gone up to $400 a month," she says. That's a 25% increase. There is one place where Russians are being welcomed with open arms.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: This is Tashkent's IT Park. It's a cluster of sparkling high-rise buildings. The Uzbek government is creating a network of hubs like this in an effort to turn the country into a global IT center. There's a skill shortage. Russian IT specialists are snapped up and given fast track relocation. Danis Mullin (ph), who's 27, arrived three months ago from the Russian city of Kazan. He won't talk about the war but makes no secret that he came here to avoid the draft.

DANIS MULLIN: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: "The hardest part was realizing that you just can't be where you want to be," he says. He works here as a project manager.

MULLIN: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: He likes life here. The food's delicious, he says. Living's not too expensive. He's learning the language. And yet - are you missing home?

MULLIN: Yes.

REEVES: You are?

MULLIN: Yes.

REEVES: He feels homesick all the time.

MULLIN: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: "I don't think that will ever go away," he says. On the streets outside, we meet another Russian. Margarita Gorichnya (ph) is from the Russian city of Tula. She, too, speaks of a warm welcome given to her and her husband.

MARGARITA GORICHNYA: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: "In three months, only two people have been unfriendly and called us deserters," she says. Russians moving here aren't all outright¹⁷ opponents of Putin. Gorichnya says she won't condemn¹⁸ Putin's government and that she doesn't understand the Ukrainians.

GORICHNYA: (Non-English language spoken).

REEVES: "They're Slavs, like us. Why do they want to be separate," she says. Above all, she hates the war and misses home. Back among the Russians at the cocktail⁵ bar, Aziz also yearns¹⁹ for home. When he left Moscow, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to return. He's rethinking that. He's heard of draft dodgers²⁰ who've gone back without encountering problems.

AZIZ: (Speaking Russian).

REEVES: Yet Aziz says he's still worried the Russian authorities will come after him and send him off to what he sees as an entirely²¹ unjustifiable war.

Philip Reeves, NPR News, Tashkent.

(SOUNDBITE OF AMBINATE'S "US THEN")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

5 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

6 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

9 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

10 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

11 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

12 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

13 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

14 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

15 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

16 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

17 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

18 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

19 yearns   

渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Every man yearns for sympathy in sorrow. 每个遇到不幸的人都渴望得到同情。
• What I dread is to get into a rut. One yearns for freshness of thought and ideas. 我害怕的就是墨守成规。人总是向往新思想和新观念的。

20 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句

21 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。