Unveiling Hidden Fortunes: Investigative Report Links Russian FM Spokeswoman to Secret Wealth Accumulation

Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, has quietly acquired millions of rubles in assets and income during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, significantly surpassing her official earnings, as reported by the investigative news organization Explainer on Thursday. The outlet referenced various publicly accessible and anonymous sources.

The investigation revealed that Zakharova’s income for 2024 was approximately 11 million rubles ($137,800), almost double her official salary from the Foreign Ministry, which was around 6 million rubles ($75,100) that same year.

The additional income is believed to stem from state media payments and royalties from her songwriting.

Her financial details are kept confidential due to a 2014 directive signed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which exempts her from the financial disclosure rules applicable to most high-ranking diplomats.

According to the report, Zakharova purchased a luxury apartment in central Moscow in December 2022 for around 100 million rubles ($1.2 million), an amount roughly 17 times her annual salary as a government employee. Official records indicate the 151-square-meter property is registered under the name “Russian Federation,” and in 2023, control of the apartment was transferred to another entity identified as the “Russian Federation.”

Explainer claims to have accessed internal documents from the real estate registry, Rosreestr, which show Zakharova as the actual purchaser, with her father listed as the most recent owner of the apartment. The outlet also identified her husband, Andrei Makhrov, as a senior executive at a geophysical and drilling research company that secures multimillion-ruble contracts from state-owned energy and mining firms.

The report indicates that Makhrov’s firm, Severo-Zapad, has benefited from substantial state contracts amid the economic boom triggered by the conflict.

The Foreign Ministry did not respond to Explainer’s inquiries for comments.

The Moscow Times was unable to independently verify the claims made by Explainer.

Explainer characterizes itself as a newly established investigative outlet focusing on open-data journalism, which evolved from the Telegram news channel Mozhem Obyasnit.