Zakharova was born to a family of diplomats and she spent her childhood in Beijing, where her mother and father worked. In 1998, she graduated from the Faculty of International Journalism at MGIMO in the field of orientalism and journalism. From 2003 russian foreign ministry zakharova 2005 and from 2008 to 2011, she worked at the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

From 2011 to 10 August 2015, Zakharova was the Deputy Head of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Her duties included organizing and conducting briefings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, the organization of work of official Ministry accounts in social networks and information support of foreign visits of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Zakharova is known for her participation in political talk shows on Russian television and for contributing commentary on sensitive political issues in social networks. She is one of the most quoted Russian diplomats. On 10 August 2015, by order of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zakharova was appointed director of the Information and Press Department.

Zakharova became the first woman in the history of the department to hold this post. In 2016 she was chosen as one of BBC’s 100 Women. On 13 November 2016, Zakharova was criticised for joking on Russian state television that the U. Russian Jewish conspiracy, stating “If you want to know what will happen in America, who do you have to talk to? You have to talk to our people in Brighton Beach, naturally”. On 2 March 2017, Zakharova refused to discuss allegations against the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak with a CNN reporter.