The 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe will this week be commemorated in towns and cities across the continent. On this occasion, the celebration will be especially poignant. It will probably be the last important Victory Day anniversary involving veterans and survivors of the conflict, men and women who bear direct witness to its horror. What will also be unsettling is that it arises at a moment of acute diplomatic tension between Russia and the west.

本周，欧洲大陆的各个城镇将举行二战结束70周年纪念活动。这一次的庆祝活动将尤为令人心碎。它很可能将成为有那场冲突的老兵与幸存者、直接目睹了二战之恐怖的男女参加的最后一个重大的胜利日周年庆典。另外，此次庆祝发生在俄罗斯与西方外交紧张颇为尖锐的时刻，也将令人不安。

Nowhere will east-west divisions be more apparent than in Moscow itself. Ten years ago, at the 60th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, as it is known in Russia, the leaders of the US, France and Germany joined President Vladimir Putin for the May 9 victory parade in Red Square.

莫斯科本身将最明显地展现东西方的分裂。10年前，在俄罗斯所称的伟大卫国战争(Great Patriotic War)结束60周年纪念之际，美国、法国和德国的领导人跟弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)一起参加了5月9日的红场(Red Square)胜利阅兵式。

This year, they and other western leaders will be absent. Mr Putin is likely to use the occasion to aggrandise his regime after its seizure of Crimea and its incursion into eastern Ukraine. Western leaders have made clear that they do not want to be part of the show.

今年，他们和其他西方领导人将缺席红场。在吞并克里米亚和入侵乌克兰东部之后，普京很可能利用这一机会夸耀他的政权。西方领导人已明确表示，他们不想参与这场表演。

Anyone contemplating the scale of suffering in the second world war is bound to regret their absence from Moscow on Saturday.

任何思量二战造成多大苦难的人，注定会对他们周六不去莫斯科感到遗憾。

The Soviet Union lost more than 20m citizens and its role in defeating Nazi Germany was greater than that of any other state. The number who died in the siege of Leningrad exceeded the total losses of British and US forces combined in the entire war.

苏联在二战期间失去了逾2000万公民，苏军在击败纳粹德国方面发挥的作用大于其他任何国家。列宁格勒围城战中的阵亡人数超过了英美军队在整个二战期间的阵亡总人数。

The battles of Stalingrad and Kursk were turning points of the conflict. Russia’s role was central and critical and this should never be forgotten by historians.

斯大林格勒战役及库尔斯克战役是第二次世界大战的转折点。俄罗斯在这场战争中扮演了核心且至关重要的角色，历史学家们永远不应该遗忘这一点。

The 70th anniversary ought also to be a moment when the world comes together — not only to honour those who gave their lives to defeat Nazi tyranny but to recognise the difficult moral lessons of the conflict. The world did not prevent the Holocaust of European Jewry. The saturation bombing of Hamburg and Dresden was excessive. The Red Army committed hideous war crimes, notably the destruction of the Polish officer corps at Katyn. The second world war was not the simple tale of good defeating evil that is often served up.

二战结束70周年也应该是全世界聚在一起的时刻—