During Russian news agency TASS’s joint workshop with the International Journalists Council in Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, met with Turkish journalists, during which she answered the questions of Turkish journalist Esra Karahindiba.

Karahindiba’s interview with Zakharova was reported in the online version of the Turkish newspaper, Cumhuriyet, on October 14, 2023. The question-and-answer session focused on the evolving situation in the Middle East, with Zakharova comparing Russia’s backing a two-state solution based on international law with the U.S.’s military approach to solving the dilemma. Zakharova questioned why, during the year-long process of Hamas planning its invasion – a claim which Zakharova attributed to a Hamas statement – the U.S. did not share any intelligence with the Israelis about a possible Hamas action. Zakharova appeared to imply that the U.S. may have been guilty of withholding information because it wanted the war to break out.

The Russian FM spokesperson suggested that the U.S. used Russia’s aggression in Ukraine as the reason for blocking the Middle East Quartet’s efforts to come to a resolution. But, according to Zakharova, the U.S., together with Great Britain, had been planning for some time to use Ukraine to establish a military base against Russia. On the other hand, Zakharova was effusive with thanks to China for their mediation to attempt a political solution to the Ukraine issue.

Cumhuriyet’s report follows [as translated from the Turkish by LOC]:

Zaharova, finding herself giving assessments concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict, which was first on the agenda, drew attention to the timing of the event and to the U.S. not sharing any intelligence information at all as it was happening.

“According to Hamas’s statement, while it has been a year-long process of preparation, why didn’t the U.S., which has repeatedly given Israel a security guarantee, say a single word connected with such a development? Can you believe that a superpower like the U.S. that has military bases in the region, has satellites, possesses the best equipment in the fields of cyber and information, didn’t have any information concerning what was happening, and was unaware of the preparation of such a huge operation? I actually have an answer to this. There was no possibility of the U.S. not knowing of the preparation of such an operation. The main question is why didn’t they share this information openly with the public? Or with whom did they share this information? And what happened to this information?…”

Recalling the attack on the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, in the U.S., Zakharova continued:

“Before the explosion, before the Boston Marathon terror attack, Russia had shared officially with the U.S. information related to the Tsarnaev brothers. These men were originally from the Russian Caucasus. They had moved to the U.S. Russia, Russian officials, and the Russian Special Service gave information connected with their preparing a terror attack in the U.S. targeting American cities. Russia shared this information with the U.S. immediately; the Russian representation in Washington passed along their material on this issue. What sort of response did we receive? What was the U.S.’s answer? They told us, “Don’t worry; we’ll handle it somehow.” They did not take our intelligence into consideration at all. They allowed the Tsarnaev brothers to carry out the terror attack. This is the question connected with them (in Israel) and with who was responsible?”

Whereas Zakharova answered claims that other powers could be behind the sophisticated and complex attack by saying:

“The basic reality is, that there is not a military solution to this very long and complicated story that has been going on for 75 years. There is a political and diplomatic solution based on international law. There are numerous United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decisions that need to be implemented, and there is a General Assembly decision. And Russia has always been on the side of these international legal decisions being implemented. However, we must be honest and say this: During this entire time, the U.S. in recent years has done its best in order to destroy the international legal ground that would bring a solution to the Middle East. Whereas the last thing they have done was to cause harm to a political solution. This was the situation, they blocked the efforts of the Middle East Quartet (consisting of the UN, EU, U.S., and Russia). They did this after February 2022. And they said that they did this because of Russia’s so-called aggression directed at Ukraine. And this, in fact, has no relationship at all with the Middle East. So, why did they obstruct the efforts of the Middle East Quartet? Because they are always on the side of a military solution. Because they are always on the side of chaos, managing the chaos. Unfortunately, they are no longer able to manage any chaos at all.”

When Russia’s behavior was questioned in relation to a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Zakharova stressed the two-state solution:

“The main approach, which I mentioned, is the two-state solution that is based on international law… This approach is based on international law and is based on people’s beliefs and a just solution to the situation. And this approach, based on international law, should be implemented. And this is the stance that Mr. Putin declared the day before as Russia’s view.”

However, Mariya Zakharova drew attention to there being a suspicious point related to the present situation:

“Probably within this month, 2-3 weeks ago, the U.S. stopped their provisional aide to Ukraine. Their support, which is continuing, has been reduced. But it wasn’t even reduced. They announced that it has to be arranged again. This also happened two weeks earlier before the situation in the Middle East escalated. This indeed is a very suspicious subject. Because at the moment they are making their announcement, they are publishing their statement, they are increasing weapons support to Israel. In order to do this, in order to do such a thing, they had to reduce support to Ukraine, just as they announced. They also announced that they had temporarily stopped support to Ukraine two weeks before the situation escalated in the Middle East. That is, concerning the situation in the Middle East, we have a lot of questions to direct at the U.S. Of course, it’s not questions related to Ukraine. It is very clear, very plain that a base was planned in Ukraine against Russia and that the whole issue was organized much earlier by the U.S. and England. Whether military, human, or political, they committed many provocations. They caused regime change in Ukraine in order to establish a purely anti-Russia and Russophobic base…But if we have a look at the situation in the Middle East, there are many questions that need to be answered by Washington. What were they doing throughout this whole year? Why didn’t they share information? What kind of intelligence did they possess? Now they shouldn’t sit and cry. I don’t believe their tears. I don’t believe a single drop.”

Zakharova gave the following answer to a question related to whether or not the new situation in the Middle East would strengthen Russia’s hand on the Ukraine front: “We aren’t making such inferences, such ties concerning our resolving the situation in Ukraine. I guarantee you. Believe me.”

When Moscow’s approach was questioned concerning mediation efforts related to Ukraine, especially China’s 12-article draft resolution and Türkiye’s mediation initiatives, Zakharova made these assessments:

We are grateful for the efforts of every country, politician, and civil society representative who has brought an idea to the table aimed at the situation in Ukraine being solved politically. We are especially thankful to China. They opened a special position in order to become a mediator. They called the mediator a special representative. We thank you very, very much. However, the truth is that Zelensky himself forbade any sort of peaceful negotiations with Russia to be carried out. And he did this by law. He did this under the pressure of the U.S. His hands were tied. The paths to a peaceful resolution, agreements, and diplomatic negotiations were closed. In other words, this is no longer Russia’s problem. It’s not the mediators’ problem. This is now the problem of Ukraine, of the regime and of the U.S.”