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Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman included in BBC 100 Women 2016 list

Maria Zakharova is described as "the first woman in the history of the department to hold the post, and has made waves with her combative and colourful style"
Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Alexander Scherbak/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Alexander Scherbak/TASS

LONDON, November 21. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has been included in BBC 100 Women 2016 list.

Zakharova appears in the "politics" section and is described as "the first woman in the history of the department to hold the post, and has made waves with her combative and colourful style."

Apart from the Russian diplomat, four other women are featured in this section — Aline Mukovi Neema, activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Denise Ho, singer and pro-democracy campaigner from Hong Kong; Karima Baloch, political activist from Pakistan; and Rachida Dati, politician from France.

BBC says it "has chosen its list of inspirational and influential women for 2016." Other sections include arts, business, health, human rights, journalism, religion, sci/tech and sports.

Another Russian on this list is Yuliya Stepanova. Together with Russian ex-doping official Vitaly Stepanov, she was in the center of a series of documentaries on alleged doping abuse in Russian sports aired by German TV Channel ARD in December 2014. The ARD’s two-part documentary, entitled Geheimsache Doping (Secret Doping Case), claimed that Russian athletes systematically took banned substances on instructions from their coaches. The investigation initiated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) resulted in the disqualification of the All-Russia Athletic Federation and subsequent ban of Russian athletes from the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.