MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has for the first time held her briefing in the unusual for the journalists format of a video conference, answering as many as 16 questions.
Zakharova’s weekly briefings, where journalists have an opportunity to directly ask vital questions, are popular among the Russian and foreign journalists.
Last week, all journalists accredited to the briefing had to go through temperature checks at the entrance to the press center of the Russian Foreign Ministry. This time, the ministry acted in line with the latest recommendations from the World Health Organization, moving the briefing online.
At first glance, today’s briefing was in no way different to the previous ones. Against the background of the familiar banner, the Russian diplomat voiced the working schedule of the foreign minister, as well as answered 16 questions from journalists, that were sent ahead in writing or as a video. Meanwhile, Zakharova and a ministry cameraman were the only audience in the hall.
For slightly more than an hour, the spokeswoman was commenting on international topics, including the situation in Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine, investigation into the MH17 crash, fresh reports about an alleged Russian meddling. Most questions, as it had been expected, focused on the novel coronavirus and the way it affected the schedule of the Russian diplomats.
Zakharova does not know what will be the format of her next briefing. At the end of the Thursday’s briefing, she promised the journalists to inform them in advance.
The World Health Organization says that the novel coronavirus cases across the globe have exceeded 118,000, with about 4,300 deaths. The WHO has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.