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His next stop: Russia.
下一站是俄羅斯。
By the time Sater arrived in the mid-'90s, the Soviet Union had collapsed,
薩特到俄羅斯是已經是九十年代中期，前蘇聯已經解體，
Boris Yeltsin was in power, and Moscow had embraced a lawless version of capitalism.
鮑里斯·葉利欽當權，莫斯科處于沒有法紀的資本主義時期。
The city was anarchic, ruthless, but full of opportunity.
這座城市充斥著無政府主義，殘酷無情，但機遇遍地。
Through connections on Wall Street, Sater started a telecommunications company in Russia
通過和華爾街的關系，薩特在俄羅斯開了一家電信公司，
selling transatlantic cable for voice and data transmission from the newly democratic countries of the former Soviet Union to AT&T.
跨大西洋銷售電纜，為前蘇聯解體形成的新興民主國家和美國電話電報公司提供語音和數據傳輸。
During that era, the once-powerful Soviet military and intelligence services were in disarray.
那段時期，曾經強大的前蘇聯軍事和情報服務陷入一片混亂。
Large swaths of both were being privatized.
絕大部分都私有化了。
A bevy of former military officers and intelligence operatives went to work for businessmen.
一群前蘇聯軍官和情報人員都為商人工作，
Some legitimate, some with ties to organized crime, all looking for a piece of the new Russian economy.
有些是合法的，有些還和組織犯罪有關，他們都期待著新的俄羅斯經濟。
One man, a senior Soviet military intelligence official in Afghanistan during the Red Army’s occupation,
在蘇聯紅軍占領阿富汗期間的一名前蘇聯高級軍事情報官員，
took an interest in Sater and his telecom company.
對薩特和其電信公司很感興趣。
Sater won't divulge the man's real name.
薩特不愿透露這位官員的真實姓名。
He just refers to him as "E".
薩特稱之為“E”。
But he was an acquaintance who changed the American's life in unimaginable ways.
但是這位官員以不可思議的方式改變了美國人的生活，他是一位老熟人。
The two soon became close, and Sater routinely went to banyas (saunas) with E and his friends to drink and relax.
兩個人很快走得很近，薩特和E還有朋友們定期去洗浴房（桑拿浴室）喝酒放松。
Almost all of E’s friends were also former high-ranking military or intelligence officials.
E的朋友們幾乎都是前蘇聯的高級軍官或情報官員。
One night, the group went out to dinner,
一天晚上，他們去吃晚餐，
and Sater met an American named Milton Blane, who introduced himself as a consultant.
薩特見到了一位叫做彌爾頓·布萊恩的美國人，彌爾頓·布萊恩自稱是顧問。
A few days later, Blane invited him to a popular British pub in central Moscow.
幾天后，布萊恩邀請薩特去莫斯科市中心一家很受歡迎的英國酒吧。
He told Sater he was connected to "some serious people,"
布萊恩告訴薩特，他與“一些身份特殊的人”有聯系，
guys who had extraordinary access to senior levels of the Russian armed forces.
這些人與俄羅斯軍隊高層有特殊接觸。
OK, Sater said, so what?
薩特說，好啊，那又怎樣?
Blane was an officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency, operating out of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
布萊恩是美國國防情報局的官員，在美國駐莫斯科大使館工作，
Sater, with his ties to "E" and his friends, could be very helpful.
由于薩特和E的聯系還有他的朋友們的一些聯系，薩特對布萊恩來說恐怕會非常有用。
To Sater's astonishment, Blane was recruiting him to become an intelligence asset.
讓薩特驚訝的是，布萊恩要招募他為情報人員。
The U.S. was working on anti-missile defense systems, and the DIA wanted to find out how Moscow's worked.
美國正在研制反導彈防御系統，美國國防情報局想知道俄羅斯政府是如何運作的。
(Former FBI and CIA officials support Sater's account.
（前聯邦調查局和中央情報局官員支持薩特的說法。
Like many government officials interviewed for this story, they asked for anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about the matter.)
正像很多政府官員對此接受采訪時說的一樣，這些官員要求匿名，因為他們沒有權限談論此事。）
Sater says it took him "about three seconds" to decide.
薩特說他花了“大約三秒鐘”來做決定。
"I'm in," he told Blane, a decision he now says was driven by both "patriotism" and a "romantic notion" of espionage.
“我加入，”他告訴布萊恩，他現在做出的決定是被“愛國主義”和間諜活動的“浪漫主義概念”共同驅使的。
He had no idea what he was getting himself into.
他當時根本不知道自己在干些什么。
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