據報道，俄羅斯總統普京重申將在2008年卸任，并表示他會向接班人建議要“消除貧窮和確保經濟強勁增長”。在其莫斯科市郊的官邸里，普京舉行了午餐會，并向大約50名外國專家發表了近4個小時的講話。普京并沒有提到卸任之后的去向，不過，在言談中他一度表示對政治感到厭倦，也感嘆自己無法鏟除貪污風氣。同時，普京回答了許多問題，包括外交和內政。對制裁伊朗的做法他不表贊同，并含蓄地表示反對科索沃獨立，他也盛贊烏克蘭總統尤先科。至于美國總統布什，普京盡量給予布什正面的評價，不過，他認為布什是個“不稱職的顧問”。談到俄羅斯和中國的關系他給予了肯定。

Russian President Vladimir Putin steps downstairs in this undated photo. [AP] Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to step down in 2008 and said he would recommend his successor fight poverty and ensure strong economic growth, said experts who attended a lunch with the president.  Putin spoke for nearly four hours to a group of about 50 foreign experts over lunch at his Novo-Ogaryovo residency outside Moscow, according to people who attended the meeting. "The most interesting point was that he reiterated that he does not plan to run again for office in 2008 as he believes he has a moral duty not to break the constitution," said Angela Stent, director of the center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington. A Kremlin spokesman confirmed the meeting but said he could not immediately give comments. Putin, 53, declined to give any details about who could succeed him in 2008, when he must step down after two four-year terms in office. Because the Kremlin has so much power, the issue of his successor is the hottest political topic in Russia. During the lunch of artichoke soup, octopus carpaccio and sea bass, Putin did not say what he would do after he stepped down but at one point even expressed weariness with politics and said he had not been successful in rooting out corruption. Answering dozens of questions, Putin ranged across foreign and domestic policy, speaking out against sanctions on Iran, implicitly opposing independence for Kosovo and heaping praise on Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko. He said it was his job to improve relations with the United States, which have cooled because of differences over gas supplies to Europe, accession to the World Trade Organization and competition for allies among ex-Soviet nations. But he criticized Bush's "bad advisors" and said the European Union "was very difficult to deal with," although the Kremlin wanted a closer partnership with it, people at the meeting said. He also praised Russia's relationship with China. (Agencies)

Vocabulary:

step down: 辭職、下臺、退位 run for: 競選 root out: 鏟除 sanctions: 制裁 （英語點津陳蓓編輯）