Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife said Thursday they are separating after nearly three decades of marriage, setting the stage for the first divorce of a Russian leader since Peter the Great and bringing an end to years of speculation about the state of the couple's union.

俄罗斯总统普京(Vladimir Putin)和妻子周四说，在结婚近30年后，他们两人将分道扬镳。普京可能成为彼得大帝(Peter the Great)以来首位离婚的俄罗斯领导人，多年来外界对于这对夫妇婚姻状况的猜测也将随之画上句号。

'It was our joint decision,' Mr. Putin, 60 years old, said in a rare interview alongside his wife, 55-year-old Lyudmila Putina, who explained that the marriage had ended because they 'barely see one another.'

60岁的普京少有地与55岁的妻子柳德米拉•普京娜(Lyudmila Putina)一起接受采访。他说，这是我们两人的共同决定。他的妻子解释说，两人的婚姻结束是因为他们很少见到对方。

The couple made the surprise announcement in a brief appearance after a performance of the ballet 'La Esmeralda' at the Kremlin theater. After a few questions about the dance elicited enthusiastic replies, the reporter from state-run Rossiya-24 television asked about rumors that the first couple no longer lived together.

普京夫妇是在克里姆林宫剧院芭蕾舞剧《艾丝美拉达》(La Esmeralda)演出结束后的短暂露面中宣布这一出人意料的消息的。在几个有关表演的问题得到热情回应后，俄罗斯国有电视台Rossiya-24的记者问到有关普京夫妇已经不住在一起的传言。

Mr. Putin, who for years has angrily batted away personal questions, confirmed that they live apart. Explaining their decision, the Putins spoke somewhat awkwardly, looking at one another for cues, as Russians heard for the first time a public admission of discord within the secretive first family.

普京证实两人已分居。在解释他们的这一决定时，普京夫妇说话有些局促不安，看向对方寻找暗示。这是俄罗斯公众首次听到行事隐秘的第一家庭公开承认存在不和。多年来，每当被问到私人问题时，普京总是不悦地避而不谈。

The pair's two daughters, 28-year-old Maria and 26-year-old Yekaterina, have been hidden from view to such an extent that few in Russia know what they look like. Mr. Putin said the couple 'loves their children and is very proud of them,' noting that they now lead their own lives in Russia. Mrs. Putina thanked him for supporting her and her daughters.

普京夫妇的两个女儿──28岁的玛丽亚(Maria)和26岁的叶卡捷琳娜(Yekaterina)一直远离公众视野，俄罗斯几乎没有人知道她们长什么样。普京说，他们夫妇爱孩子并为她们感到骄傲。他指出，两个女儿目前在俄罗斯过着自己的生活。普京的妻子感谢他支持自己和两个女儿。

Asked if they were divorcing, Mrs. Putina said, 'you could call it a civilized divorce,' without elaborating. Mr. Putin nodded and ended the interview.

记者问普京夫人他们是否将离婚，她说，你可以称之为文明的离婚。她没有进一步详细说明。普京点头，结束了采访。

Neither explained the timing of their announcement.

普京夫妇都没有解释他们为何选择此时宣布这个消息。

Mr. Putin suggested his work has led to his marriage's demise. 'All my activity and work is tied to publicity, absolute publicity,' he said. 'Some people like that and others don't. But there are some people for whom it's completely incompatible,' Mr. Putin said, gesturing toward his wife.

普京暗示，他的工作导致了婚姻的终结。他说，我所有的活动和工作都有公众性质、绝对的公众性。普京说，有些人喜欢这样，有些人不喜欢。但对有些人来说则是完全不能相容的。他朝自己的太太示意了一下。

Mrs. Putina confirmed that she finds it difficult to appear in front of people. She also said it is hard for her to fly, though she was once a stewardess.

普京的夫人证实她不愿公开露面。她还说，她不愿坐飞机，虽然她曾是一名空乘。

Mr. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, suggested the Russian leader had become married to his work. 'It's no secret and everyone knows that he long ago devoted himself to the country, as pompous as that may sound,' he told the Lifenews website.

普京的发言人佩斯科夫(Dmitry Peskov)暗示，普京已经与他的工作结合。他对Lifenews网站说，这可能听起来有些像自夸，但众所周知，他很早以前就把自己献给了国家，这不是秘密。

The announcement comes at a time when the Russian government is trying to promote traditional family values, in part to prop up the country's sluggish birthrate. Russia has a population of 143 million and has one of the world's highest divorce rates. In 2012, Russia saw 1.2 million marriages and 642,000 divorces, according to federal statistics.

普京夫妇宣布这一消息时恰逢俄罗斯政府努力宣扬传统家庭价值观之际，这一定程度上是为了提高俄罗斯低迷的出生率。俄罗斯现有1.43亿人口，离婚率位居世界前列。据俄罗斯联邦统计数据显示，2012年，俄罗斯有120万对新人结婚，642,000对夫妇离婚。

In the past, Mr. Putin appeared at Russian Orthodox Easter services with his wife. But Mrs. Putina didn't attend the most recent service this spring. The Russian Orthodox Church permits divorce in some circumstances.

过去，普京总与妻子一起出席俄罗斯东正教复活节仪式。但普京夫人没有出席今年春天的最近一次仪式。俄罗斯东正教教会允许教徒在某些情况下离婚。

Mr. Peskov said Thursday that the couple has yet to file for divorce officially.

佩斯科夫周四说，普京夫妇尚未正式申请离婚。

The announcement brings an end to a marriage that has been the subject of speculation for years in Russia and abroad. Until Thursday, Mr. Putin and the Kremlin vehemently denied periodic tabloid reports of marital stress or even plans for divorce. Mr. Putin, meanwhile, has cultivated an athletic, tough-guy image with appearances flying planes, riding horses and wrangling wild animals.

多年来俄罗斯国内外围绕普京夫妇婚姻一直存在猜测。直到周四之前，对于小报上时而出现的有关普京夫妇婚姻关系紧张甚至计划离婚的报道，普京和克里姆林宫都予以强烈否认。与此同时，普京树立了一种强健的硬汉形象，人们不时可以看到他开飞机、骑马和与野兽搏斗的画面。

After one Moscow paper reported in 2008 that Mr. Putin had split with his wife and was planning to marry a gymnast many years his junior, Mr. Putin responded angrily.

2008年，莫斯科一家报纸报道说，普京已经与妻子分开，并计划与一位比自己小很多的体操运动员结婚，普京对此做出了愤怒的回应。

'There's a private life that no one's allowed to mess with,' he said at the time. 'I have always had a negative attitude toward those who reach into the lives of others with their fluey noses and erotic fantasies.' The newspaper was closed by its owner within days.

他当时说，每个人都有私生活，是不许别人干涉的。对于那些用自己毛茸茸的鼻子和性幻想窥探别人生活的人，我一直抱着否定的态度。几天内，这家报纸就被其所有者停刊了。

In the initial years after Mr. Putin became president in 2000, Mrs. Putina accompanied her husband on major trips and made a number of appearances in public. But like nearly all her predecessors, with the exception of Mikhail Gorbachev's wife, Raisa, she stayed away from political matters and avoided the limelight.

2000年普京出任总统后的头几年，他的夫人曾随他进行重要出访，并多次在公开场合露面。但与几乎所有的俄罗斯总统夫人一样──除了戈尔巴乔夫(Mikhail Gorbachev)的夫人赖莎(Raisa)，她远离政治事务，避免受到关注。

Mrs. Putina's absences grew even longer when her husband served as prime minister from 2008 to 2012. Their last public appearance together before Thursday was Mr. Putin's presidential inauguration in May 2012, the Interfax news agency reported.

2008年至2012年，普京担任俄罗斯总理期间，普京夫人缺席公开活动的时间变得更多。据国际文传电讯社(Interfax)报道，周四之前，他们最后一次一起公开露面是在2012年5月普京的总统宣誓就职仪式上。

The couple married on July 28, 1983. Vladimir was a young KGB officer from Leningrad. Lyudmila was a stewardess from Kaliningrad. They met through friends at a concert when Mrs. Putina made a trip to Leningrad, and later struck up a long-distance relationship by phone, with Mrs. Putina flying back and forth to see her new crush, according to a Kremlin-sanctioned biography released in 2000.

普京夫妇于1983年7月28日结婚。当时，普京是列宁格勒的一个年轻克格勃官员。柳德米拉是加里宁格勒的一个空乘。据2000年出版的一本克里姆林宫批准的传记说，柳德米拉去列宁格勒时，两人在一个音乐会上经朋友介绍认识，之后两人通过电话保持异地恋，柳德米拉经常飞去看普京。

In the book, Mrs. Putina recalled one special night after 3½ years of dating. The two sat down at his house.

在这本书中，普京夫人回忆了两人恋爱三年半后的一个特殊夜晚。当时两人在普京家里坐着。

'I'm generally not a very convenient person,' she recalled him saying. 'Then he went on to list all his self-characterizations─silent, sometimes pretty cutting, sometimes hurtful, and so on.'

她回忆道，普京说，我通常不是一个容易相处的人，之后他开始罗列自己的各种性格特点──沉默寡言，有时非常尖锐，有时非常伤人，等等。

She thought they were breaking up, but instead Mr. Putin proposed. The young stewardess said yes to the Soviet agent, acknowledging she was about to marry 'a risky life partner.'

她以为两人是要分手，但普京却向她求了婚。这位年轻的空乘同意了这位苏联特工的求婚，她承认自己即将嫁给一个危险的人生伴侣。