Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova briefing, Moscow, October 21, 2026

Briefing by Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues, Moscow, October 21, 2026 00:00:00 Preparations for the third Russia–Africa Summit and the Economic and Humanitarian Forum (Moscow, October 28–29) 00:06:16 Ukraine crisis 00:35:24 Japan’s supply of combat drones to the Kiev regime 00:36:54 United Nations Day 00:40:49 Remembering history lessons: Operation Unthinkable 00:51:51 The act of vandalism targeting Soviet military graves in Warsaw 00:58:53 85th anniversary of the establishment of the first Finnish concentration camp for prisoners of war in Petrozavodsk 01:02:55 White Cranes Day 01:16:03 New entry rules for foreign nationals travelling to Kazakhstan 01:17:22 Release of new postal stamp series, The Diplomatic Offices of the Russian Foreign Ministry 01:19:00 The 62nd anniversary of the Republic of Zambia’s independence 01:20:55 The World Thematic Conference of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad, Consolidation of Russian Compatriots: Unity is Our Strength 01:22:08 Answers to media questions: 01:22:20 New fabricated stories concerning the Armenian NPP 01:27:15 Preparation for the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta 01:38:48 Russophobic statements by the former Prime Minister of Finland 01:45:20 Incident involving a Ukrainian UAV in European airspace 01:52:25 Russia’s position on unilateral sanctions imposed by the collective West 01:55:30 Significance of the upcoming fifth plenary session of the CPC Central Committee for Russian-Chinese relations 01:57:33 Russian-Belarusian countermeasures in the context of NATO’s growing military activity along the borders of the Union State 02:01:18 Russia’s engagement with Central Asian states 02:03:28 The 31st regular meeting of the heads of government of Russia and China 02:07:22 Japan-US Keen Sword exercises 02:10:01 Upcoming parliamentary elections in Serbia 02:12:08 The role of the European Union in the Ukraine crisis 02:16:14 Statements by the Japanese leadership 02:19:21 Unrest in Europe 02:21:34 Marco Rubio’s visit to Central Asia 02:22:19 Detention of a Japanese journalist in Russia 02:28:54 Escalatory rhetoric from the British leadership 02:32:08 Discrimination against Russian and Belarusian athletes 02:34:51 Finland’s path towards militarisation 02:36:34 Statements by the Israeli leadership 02:37:53 Outcomes of Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Bahrain and Iran 02:38:25 The 7th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia 02:41:22 Russian-Afghan cooperation 02:43:16 The 70th anniversary of the signing of the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration 02:46:14 Situation around the detention of a Japanese journalist 02:48:59 Ban on the import of certain Georgian goods into Russia 02:52:05 Statements by the Chisinau authorities regarding Transnistria МИД России в "Икс" (бывший Twitter) (русская версия) https://twitter.com/MID_RF МИД России в "VK" (русская версия) https://vk.com/mid МИД России в "Facebook" * https://www.facebook.com/MIDRussia МИД России в "Instagram" https://www.instagram.com/mid.rus/ МИД России в "Flickr" https://www.flickr.com/photos/mfarussia/ МИД России в"TikTok" https://www.tiktok.com/@midrussia МИД России в "RuTube" https://rutube.ru/channel/23489815 *https://mid.ru/ru/tekhnicheskie_svedeniya/ob_ispolzovanii_programmnykh_produktov_kompanii_meta/