Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova is the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2015.
15 Facts About Maria Zakharova
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Maria Zakharova has a degree of Candidate in Historical Sciences, the Russian equivalent of a PhD.
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Maria Zakharova's mother, Irina Zakharova, is an art historian who has worked at Moscow's Pushkin Museum.
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In 1998, Maria Zakharova graduated from the Faculty of International Journalism at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in the field of orientalism and journalism.
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From 2011 to 10 August 2015, Maria Zakharova was the Deputy Head of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
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Maria Zakharova's duties included organizing and conducting briefings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, the organization of work of official Ministry accounts in social networks and information support of foreign visits of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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Maria Zakharova is known for her participation in political talk shows on Russian television and for contributing commentary on sensitive political issues on social media.
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Maria Zakharova is one of the most quoted Russian diplomats.
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On 10 August 2015, by order of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova was appointed director of the Information and Press Department.
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When Couric brought up the reports of torture against LGBT individuals by the Chechen government, Maria Zakharova said that Russia was conducting an investigation into the matter.
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In 2021, Maria Zakharova criticised a NATO military exercise called Defender-Europe 21, one of the largest NATO-led military exercises in Europe in decades, which began in March 2021.
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Maria Zakharova claimed that by conducting these exercises, NATO is gathering a "strike fist" near Russia's borders.
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On 16 February 2022, Maria Zakharova ridiculed Western media predictions of an imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia when she had mockingly asked for the schedule of Russian invasion so that she could, ostensibly, "plan [her] vacation" accordingly.
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Maria Zakharova was sanctioned by New Zealand and by the UK government in 2022 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War.
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On 7 November 2005, Maria Zakharova married Andrei Makarov at the Russian Consulate in New York City.