The Russian Foreign Ministry requested the EU to send a transcript of the official’s speech in Spanish, due to a possible mistake in the translation of the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell’s words on “fascist Russia”. reported Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to him, if Russia does not receive a transcript, Moscow will draw appropriate conclusions about the possibility of interaction with the European side.
“We requested a Spanish transcript of the conversation from Mr. Borrell’s office. It was not given to us. “We will strive for complete clarity and if we do not receive this transcript in Spanish today, we will draw the appropriate conclusions,” Lavrov said.
According to him, “If all the world media reports are confirmed, then of course, there will be huge questions about how to continue doing business with these people“.
Lavrov also reminded that Borrell appoints EU representatives abroad, including Russia. The new head of the European delegation will be Roland Galyarag, former diplomat Markus Ederer stepping down on 1 September.
If Borrell instinctively accepts the struggle against the “fascist regime” in his own words, then I am very curious about what instructions, what directives he gave his representative in Moscow, and what line this representative would follow.“, added.
Difficulties in translation
Borrell spoke on foreign policy and security issues at an inter-parliamentary conference in Prague on September 5. He switched to his native Spanish, answering the questions of the deputies. Translation into English was provided by the Czech side, blocked Borrell’s voice on the air. An Estonian parliamentarian asked a question during the meeting using the following phrase: “Fascist Russia”. Borrell directly quoted this statement in answering the question. The translator did not mention that it was a quote, but presented it as a statement of the highest representative of the European Union.
Borrell’s spokesman, Peter Stano, said the head of European diplomacy did not refer to Russia as “a fascist state and a fascist regime”. it was a translation error.
The Kremlin said they had “a bad attitude towards false statements” because of the mistranslation.
“They wanted to blame the translator”
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Borrell “canceled himself as a diplomat” with words about “fascist Russia”.
“With such statements, Mr. Borrell completely invalidates himself as a diplomat. Of course, none of his judgments about Russia and relations with Russia can be valid from now on,” he said.
Borrell’s words were also interpreted by Maria Zakharova, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He finds the definition given to Russia by the head of European diplomacy “disgusting” and unacceptable.
He literally said: “Today we are meeting with the representatives of Ukraine within the framework of the accession negotiations. “So far we have no concrete plan on how to defeat a fascist country and its fascist regime,” Borrell said. He said it word for word, they wanted to attribute it to the translator.“, – said Zakharova.
A few hours after this “unacceptable, disgusting, outlaw definition” had begun to break out, he remembered that Borrell’s representatives had tried to attribute everything to a translator’s fault.
“But now that they had the video, they would have it anyway. He (Borrel) allows him to use such words in relation to our country. And then, I’m pretty sure the reps lie that it didn’t happen. It was, and now this video has dispersed all over the world,” he said.
NATO clause
In October 2014, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was the victim of a translation error. The English to Polish translator distorted the official’s words and caused an international scandal.
In an interview with TVP Info, Stoltenberg said the ministerial meeting will decide on the Alliance’s Rapid Response Force, but “even before they were created, NATO had a strong army and we are ready to send a rapid reaction force at any time”. The translator ended the sentence with these words: “We can place them anywhere”.
Source: Gazeta
