Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova celebrates her anniversary

The official Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova celebrates her anniversary on December 24. She took the international dialogue to a new level. Her sarcastic and biting phrases are quoted by world publications, and Zakharova's approach to diplomacy is considered a benchmark.

Maria Zakharova has turned weekly briefings for journalists into a separate genre. Metaphors and epithets are not often found in the speech of officials.

"Always communicating with you (Zakharova. — Ed.), I have to gather myself internally, because your reaction to anything is impossible to predict. And that's great," said Nikita Mikhalkov, People's Artist of the RSFSR and director.

The work of the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs results in the most unexpected collaborations. The famous rapper Ptaha was inspired by her poems and made country blues based on them.

"Maria's only request was that I not change the words at all. We tried to put it into rap in different ways, <...> it didn't work <...>, then we decided to make jazz," said the performer.

In another case, the diplomat sang in Italian in a duet with journalist Vincenzo Lorusso — an absolute improvisation.

Zakharova was born into a diplomatic family and has been surrounded by an international atmosphere since childhood. The parents of the future representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked in China, thanks to which Maria Vladimirovna is fluent in Chinese.

"I was a very little girl, I had just started school. But my parents were very actively involved in all the conversations. They never said, "Come out, there's adult talk," she said.

She received her higher education at MGIMO. By diploma, he is an international journalist.

"When Maria came, they asked her — are you into journalism? <...> What language do you want to learn? And she spoke Chinese, which, of course, surprised all the members of the commission a little. The girl asks to study Chinese," said MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov.

Then he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PhD thesis, New York. The position of press secretary of our permanent Mission to the United Nations. 10 years ago, she was appointed Director of the Department of Information and Press, the first woman to serve as an official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Maria Vladimirovna is a symbol of the era," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

The journalistic pool was lucky: Maria Zakharova had access to comment on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, on board a government plane, and at talks in the DPRK.

"We need this now like air, because there are so many fakes and so much misinformation that has already turned into a perverted interpretation of what is happening, that if there is an opportunity, and even more so, an interest in obtaining this information, we should use it literally as a chance," the diplomat said.

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Zakharova was also congratulated on her birthday in the Kremlin. Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised the diplomat's work as "brilliant."

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.