Maria Zakharova
Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova (Russian: Мария Владимировна Захарова; born 24 December 1975) is a Russian politician who serves as the director of the information and press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation[1] She has been the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2015.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vladimirovna and the family name is Zakharova.
Maria Zakharova
Alexander Lukashevich
1
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University)
She has a degree of Candidate in Historical Sciences, the Russian equivalent of a PhD.[2]
Early life and education[edit]
Zakharova was born to a family of diplomats on 24 December 1975. Her father, Vladimir Zakharov, moved the family to Beijing in 1981 when he was appointed to the Soviet embassy there.[3] The family left Beijing for Moscow in 1993, two years after the Soviet Union had collapsed. Her mother, Irina Zakharova, is an art historian who has worked at Moscow's Pushkin Museum.[3]
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. Her pre-diploma apprenticeship was carried out at the Russian Embassy in Beijing.
Sanctions[edit]
On 23 February 2022, a day before Russia invaded Ukraine, she was sanctioned by the European Union alongside other prominent Russian media figures, as "a central figure of the government propaganda," and for having "promoted the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine." The sanctions include being placed on a No Fly list and the freezing of assets.[28]
Following the invasion, on 8 March, Australia also imposed sanctions on Zakharova.[29] On 18 March, Zakharova was included in Japan's expanded sanctions list.[30] The United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Zakharova in June, with New Zealand and the United Kingdom following suit within the year.[31][32][33]
Controversies[edit]
On 13 November 2016, Zakharova was criticised for making anti-semitic jokes on Russian state television that the U.S. election results were the result of a Russian Jewish conspiracy, stating "If you want to know what will happen in America, who do you have to talk to? You have to talk to our people in Brighton Beach, naturally". Brighton Beach is home to a large Russian Jewish community. She also spoke in a stereotypical Jewish accent.[34][35]