Among the representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry there is no person whose speech would be quoted as often as the speeches of Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova. Confident blonde made a significant contribution to the development of domestic diplomacy and became the first woman to serve as head of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Childhood and youth
Maria's biography began in Moscow in 1975. However, the girl spent her childhood in Beijing, the capital of China, where her parents went in the early 80s. Maria’s father is a diplomat and specialist in Eastern philology. For many years he worked at the embassy and dealt with issues of Russian-Chinese cooperation. Since 2014, Vladimir Yuryevich began teaching, giving lectures to students-economists and future orientalists. Mother Irina Vladislavovna - specialist in the field of art history. A researcher at the Museum of Fine Arts has perfectly studied the traditions and cultural heritage of China. Spouses Zakharov published a book for children, retold and illustrated 12 Chinese tales dedicated to animals - zodiac symbols.
As a child, Masha was no different from her peers, built doll houses, was fond of miniatures. Parents gave her a love of oriental culture. They argue that the daughter's desire for diplomacy arose in the early years. Instead of children's programs and cartoons, she watched with interest the International Panorama.
Carier start
In 1998, the girl successfully completed her studies at MGIMO, received her education in 2 areas at once: international journalism and oriental studies. Everyday life of graduates began in the publication "Diplomatic Bulletin". After that, Zakharov was enrolled in the staff of the Press and Information Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, and soon Mary was entrusted with the department. Her unit carried out operational monitoring of the media. In addition to professionalism and hard work, colleagues noted her ability to work in a team. Maria was once taught this style by her grandmother, who said that any work should be done "perfectly", even if no one would check its result. Teaching her granddaughter how to embroider, she repeated that she needed to sew so that the pattern would be equally beautiful and neat on both sides.
In 2003, Maria was awarded the Ph.D. degree by presenting a scientific paper on the Chinese traditions of the New Year. Maria is fluent in English and Chinese.
Since 2005, Zakharova led the press service of the Russian Federation’s Representation to the UN in New York. She held this position for 3 years. The period of work was marked by many memorable events: the election of new presidents in several states, the global economic crisis, and armed conflicts in Abkhazia and Ossetia.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In 2008, Maria returned to the Russian capital. At first she worked in her former position at the DPI, but soon took the chair of the deputy head of the Department. Her job responsibilities included organizing briefings by Foreign Ministry staff. Maria has always actively used the Internet, so she managed to organize the effective work of the official accounts of the ministry on the network. This provided great informational support for the trips of the head of the ministry, Sergey Lavrov, abroad. In 2014, the Department was recognized as the best nominee among the media and mass communications at the Runet Prize.
High post
Since 2015, Maria has been participating in the discussion of questions of the country's external defense and is a member of the board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zakharova took over the management of the Press and Information Department of the domestic foreign economic department. Prior to this, the history of diplomacy did not know the case for a woman to hold this position. As an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Vladimirovna has been meeting with the press every day for several years now. On the Echo of Moscow radio station, she maintains a patriotic blog. One of the significant events of 2015 for Zakharova was the organization of the Eurasian Women's Forum in the Northern capital. In 2017, the diplomat was awarded the Order of Friendship and another high diplomatic rank. Her personal professional piggy bank has many prestigious awards and diplomas.
Maria became especially popular after she became a frequent guest in numerous television talk shows, as well as thanks to her comments on topics of politics and society on social networks. Trying to explain the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Zakharov in a relaxed and informal form. Her rhetoric is harsh, sometimes even aggressive, and causes a lot of discussion in the audience. Journalists and political scientists expressed the opinion that with the arrival of Zakharova in the Department, great changes took place. The usual ministerial officialdom has changed, the presentation of information has become different, sometimes controversial. In her work, Maria takes into account her own foreign experience and tries to keep up to date. Of particular resonance are the statements by the head of the Department on relations between Russia and the countries of the near and far abroad, as well as the problem of terrorism.
