Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) speaks during a budget meeting with senior government officials in Moscow's Kremlin June 28, 2012.(Agencies) |
Vladimir Putin cultivates the image of a man who enjoys simple pursuits such as fishing and hiking, but the perks of his presidential office make his tastes appear rather less Spartan. A dossier drawn up by a political rival of the Russian president suggests that he has 58 planes and helicopters at his use, that he has a collection of watches worth £400,000, and that he relaxes at more than 20 palaces and country retreats. The report also claims that Mr Putin uses an Ilyushin jet with a £111.3 million cabin that includes a bathroom that has gold fittings and a £50,000 lavatory. Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, concluded in his report that Mr Putin’s existence “can be compared with that of the monarchs of the Persian Gulf or the most outrageous oligarchs”. The Russian leader, 59, has often played on his humble beginnings to popular effect. He once described how, as a child, he had to beat aside rats with a stick at the entrance to his parents’ communal apartment in St Petersburg. Mr Putin, a judo black belt and amateur ice hockey player, has also projected his job as a punishing challenge fraught with austerity. Mr Nemtsov’s report is titled “The Life of a Galley Slave”, in reference to a comment by Mr Putin on finishing his second term as president in 2008, when he said: “I’m not ashamed before the citizens who voted for me. All these eight years I’ve been toiling like a galley slave, with every ounce of my strength. And I’m pleased with the results.” Among the perks said to be available to the president are a £600 million Italianate palace at Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast and a £26 milllion yacht called Sirius with whirlpool baths, a cinema and an artificial waterfall. Another 176ft yacht includes a spa pool, waterfall and wine cellar, but “the real diamond of the Kremlin flotilla,” the report claims, is a five-decked boat with a jacuzzi, barbecue, a maple wood colonnade and a bathroom faced in marble. A 2,300-acre residence on Lake Valdai in north-western Russia has a cinema, a bowling alley and a “presidential church”, and it is said a little-known three-storey residence near Saratov, on the Volga river south-east of Moscow, has German chandeliers and Italian furniture, and features a billiard room, a winter garden, a pool and sauna. According to his official income declaration Mr Putin earned £70,000 last year, making his suggested watch collection alone worth almost six times his annual salary. (Read by CJ Henderson. CJ Henderson isa journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾-普京一直把自己塑造成享受簡單追求的男性形象,比如喜歡釣魚和遠足,但俄總統辦公室的福利使他的品位看起來沒這么簡單。 普京的反對派公布的一份檔案顯示,普京擁有58架飛機和直升機,收藏的手表價值40萬英鎊,度假用的別墅和鄉間豪宅超過20處。 報告還指出,普京使用的伊柳申噴氣式飛機客艙價值1.113億英鎊,里面有鑲金浴室和價值5萬英鎊的衛生間。 俄羅斯前副總理鮑里斯-涅姆佐夫在報告中總結稱,普京的生活“堪比波斯灣國家的君主,或者最可恥的寡頭執政者”。 59歲的普京經常用他謙卑的童年來俘獲人心。他曾經描述稱,自己年幼時,常常要用棍子把自己父母在圣彼得堡公社公寓門前的老鼠趕走。 普京是一名柔道黑帶高手,也是業余冰球選手,他曾描述稱工作異常艱苦,是折磨人的挑戰。涅姆佐夫的報告題為《苦工的生活》,指的是普京在2008年完成第二任總統任期時所說的話,“我在選舉我的民眾面前毫無愧疚。在這八年中,我如一名苦工般辛苦工作,竭盡全力。我對結果很滿意。” 普京享有的福利包括,位于黑海海岸格連齊克的價值6億英鎊的意大利風格豪華別墅,價值2600萬英鎊的“天狼星號”游艇,游艇上還配有漩渦浴、電影院和人工瀑布。 另一艘176英尺長的游艇配有水療游泳池、人工瀑布和酒窖。但報告指出,“克里姆林宮船隊的真正璀璨鉆石”是一艘有五層甲板的船只,上面有按摩浴缸、燒烤架、楓木柱廊、以及大理石浴室。 另一處位于俄羅斯東北部瓦爾代湖的豪華住宅占地2300英畝,里面有電影院、保齡球館、以及“總統教堂”。據稱,薩拉托夫附近還有一處極少有人知道的三層住宅,此處也毗鄰莫斯科東南部的伏爾加河,住宅內有德國枝形吊燈和意大利家具,以及臺球室、冬景花園、水池和桑拿房。 根據官方收入報告,普京去年收入7萬英鎊,只是他所收藏的手表價值的六分之一。 相關閱讀 (中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯:陳丹妮) |
Vocabulary: oligarch: 寡頭政治執政者 punishing: 精疲力盡的,繁重費力的 Galley Slave: 做苦工的人,囚犯 |