VOA慢速英语2018--俄罗斯的军事情报局

Russia’s Military Intelligence Service: A Closer Look

The Russian military intelligence service GRU is not as famous as other Russian government agencies, like the KGB or the FSB.

But the GRU has been getting more attention as other countries accuse it of launching secretive and deadly operations.

The latest accusation¹ came earlier this month from Britain, when the government identified two Russian men as GRU agents. It blamed them for nerve-agent poisonings earlier this year in Salisbury, England.

The agency

The official name of the military intelligence service is the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. However, the agency is usually known by its former acronym².

The GRU is the most secret of Russia's secret services. When its former director Igor Sergun died in 2016, the official announcement was so short that it failed to give the date, place or cause of death.

The agency appears to have many responsibilities. The Russian Defense³ Ministry⁴ website says its job is to aid with the success of the Russian Federation⁵ by giving the government the intelligence it needs to make decisions in “the political, economic, defense, scientific, technical and environmental areas."

Allegations

Britain claims that two GRU operatives carried out the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury on former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Both survived the poisoning.

Three months later, two people who lived nearby became sick from the nerve agent. One died.

Investigators⁶ believe they found the container the carried the poison used in Skripal’s attack.

The claim came less than two months after the United States announced charges against 12 suspected GRU agents. They were accused of hacking⁸ into the election campaign of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party in 2016.

U.S. officials say the GRU released tens of thousands of private communications as part of the Russian plan to interfere⁹ in the 2016 elections.

This year, the investigative group Bellingcat reported that a GRU officer was responsible for operations in eastern Ukraine in July 2014. At that time, Russia-supported separatist forces that were fighting Ukrainian forces. Two-hundred-ninety-eight people were killed when a Malaysian passenger airplane flying over the area was shot down.

International investigators say the plane was shot down by a mobile missile launcher brought in from Russia. The GRU officer named by Bellingcat reportedly was responsible for moving weapons to Ukraine.

Russia's RBC news service also reported this year that the GRU directs Russian citizens fighting in Syria.

Russian officials usually deny accusations¹⁰ against the GRU and refuse to discuss its activities. They said they did not recognize the suspects named in the Salisbury poisoning.

Other agencies

The GRU is part of Russia's large security and intelligence system, which includes the Foreign Intelligence Service, known as the SVR. It also includes the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which gathers intelligence both in Russia and overseas.

The SVR and FSB were once part of the KGB. After the collapse¹¹ of the Soviet¹² Union, they became their own organizations. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, led the FSB before becoming president.

As head of state, Putin names the top leadership of the GRU. For most Russians, however, the FSB is the frightening organization because it looks for threats inside Russia. But the GRU, created under Soviet founder¹³ Vladimir Lenin, has an even harder reputation, because it looks at foreign threats.

The two agencies' operations seem to both compete and cooperate.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military expert, told The Associated Press that the SVR stays away from military intelligence, and the GRU stays away from political intelligence. He said that if both sides keep this divide, they do not have to share information.

In the case of U.S. election-related hacking, Felgenhauer said, he believes the services worked together.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

acronym – n. a word formed from the first letters of each one of the words in a phrase

nerve-agent – n. a toxic¹⁴ gas the affects the nerve impulses of the brain and can cause death

hack⁷ – v. to gain access to someone else’s computer

mobile – adj. able to move from one place to another

reputation – n. the common opinion that people have about someone or something

1 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

2 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

8 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

9 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

10 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 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。

13 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

14 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。