Maria Zakharova

Maria Zakharova    (official spokesperson)
Born	Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova 24 December 1975
Russian female diplomat. Known for being the spokeswoman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Director of Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation In office 10 August 2015 - Present Employer Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Maria Zakharova is Director of Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 10 August 2015, and is the official spokesperson. She has a degree of Candidate in Historical Sciences, the Russian equivalent of a PhD.

Cornering MI6

Britain 'directed Nord Stream sabotage'

On 2 November 2022, former diplomat M. K. Bhadrakumar tweeted:

1/4 Moscow corners MI6. Russian MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: “there can be no doubt that British intelligence services were involved in the terrorist attack on the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol on Oct. 29 and the act of sabotage against the Nord Stream pipeline."

2/4 “They will not be left without a reaction. We have stated this in the UN Security Council. We spoke about that publicly… British ambassador will be summoned and given the relevant materials… the same materials… will also be made available to the public at large.…"

3/4 “They tried to absolve themselves of responsibility for the terrorist attack. They said that they did not even know about anything like that. It was a very strange reaction. They have contacts, as they have always had, with the Russian Defence Ministry."

4/4 “In principle, they could have tried to clear up certain things. It has turned out that a priori they know the answers to all questions…. They argue they had nothing to do with it. They should have at least asked what evidence we have…”

The Guardian reported:

Russia has, without providing evidence, repeatedly blamed the UK for Saturday’s audacious attack, in which a swarm of drones attacked Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Russian officials have claimed a Royal Navy unit directed operations from the southern Ukrainian port of Ochakiv, which the UK dismissed as “false claims of an epic scale”.

Maria Zakharova said: “These actions were carried out under the guidance of British specialists. In this regard, the British ambassador (Deborah Bronnert) will shortly be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry and be presented with evidence of British involvement."

Wide-ranging interview

Eva Bartlett interviews Maria Zakharova

In August 2019, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was interviewed by Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett for MintPressNews covering Syria, Crimea, the Moscow protests and more:

In a simple meeting room at the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry building, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova gave me a generous hour of her time in a conversation peppered with bemused laughter at Western allegations about Russia and clear frustration at the West’s incessant vilification of all things Russia.

I traveled to Moscow in August, where to my delight I had the opportunity to interview Zakharova. Given that Russia is the focus of obsessive and largely negative Western media reporting, and also the country’s role in eliminating the proliferation of terrorist groups that once controlled large swaths of Syria, I wanted to ask Zakharova for her take on a variety of topics related to both Russia and Syria.

In our wide-ranging discussion, Zakharova spoke of the US sanctions regime against Russia and of the Western interference in Russian domestic issues — such as the protests seen in Moscow in July and August.

Syria

On Syria, she addressed the issue of exploitation of children in propaganda against Syria and Russia — notably Omran Daqneesh, a child whose image was splashed across newspapers and screens worldwide in 2016, incriminating Russia and Syria in an airstrike that was later proven to have never happened. An official apology from one of the most adamant perpetrators of that narrative, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, also never happened.

One cannot discuss the war in Syria and related propaganda without addressing the massively-funded White Helmets. In discussing the group, Zakharova gave examples of its role in fomenting support for Western military intervention, including in pushing responsibility on the Syrian government for the alleged but unproven and, by most honest accounts, staged chemical attack in Douma, eastern Ghouta, in 2018. Footage of the attack included video starring the White Helmets and another exploited Syrian boy, Hassan Diab, whose testimony of the events ran in stark contrast to the allegations against the Syrian government that were being circulated in the Western media.

Media freedom

Zakharova also addressed the inconsistencies around the Skripal case, the historic importance of Crimea’s referendum, and the UK “media freedom” conference of July 2019, where cases of imprisoned journalists like Julian Assange and Kirill Vyshinsky were notably not part of the conference program.

In an unexpected development since my discussion with Zakharova, Ukrainian-Russian journalist and editor Vyshinsky was released from his over 15 months of imprisonment without trial by Ukraine. Referring to his imprisonment, Zakharova described him as a hostage.

The interview took place at a time when Western media reporting would have one believe that the streets of Moscow were full of chaos and unrest with the protests. In fact, contrary to media reporting, Moscow was calm, as were the protests I attended on 10 August 2019. Once again, it seemed, the media was hyping and distorting reality, as they have so often done elsewhere in the world.

Reality check

Zakharova’s words are a reality check and offer an informative insight into the Russian perspective on Russian, Syrian, and global events.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Russia released statement on British role in attacks on Black Sea Fleet	Article	2 November 2022	Lyndon LaRouche	“Today, the Kiev regime employs unacceptable fascist war methods using terrorist tactics and in doing so is becoming increasingly similar to ISIS and al-Qaeda. This, however, is not surprising, considering that these groups were created by the same masterminds and instructors from Anglo-Saxon countries."

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References

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