On Russian-Georgian relations
"We've had different stages in our relations. Unfortunately, at the moment Russia and Georgia do not enjoy bilateral relations. But love between the peoples of the two countries will allow us to overcome the disagreements in our relations," Maria Zakharova said.
New gov't in Turkey
How might the new Turkish government affect relations with Russia? "I would say the priority is the direction in which the government moves. We noted not new faces, but political course. We'll see what they will do," Zakharova said.
OSCE police mission in Donbass
"We cannot agree with this statement. We don't have an agreement regarding the OSCE special police mission in Donbass," Zakharova said.
"We are not against these [OSCE] observers being able to carry light weapons for self-defense," Zakharova said during her weekly briefing in Moscow.
She said this would help to deter ceasefire violations along the line of contact, as well as the OSCE's proposition of establishing demilitarized zones along that line.
"The problem is Ukrainian troops try to capture so-called gray zones on the line of contact and constantly bombard rebels and civilians. To solve this problem, the OSCE proposed establishing so-called demilitarized zones on the line of contact and station OSCE observers there. Russia supports this approach," Zakharova said.
According to the Minsk agreements, all measures should be discussed with Donetsk and Lugansk.
On situation in Afghanistan
"The fact that the Taliban leader was killed is unfortunately viewed as a possible cause for the strengthening of radical forces in the region," Zakharova said.
Moscow has called information that contacts have allegedly been made between representatives of the Russian Federation and the Taliban in Afghanistan to be “fantasy,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.
"We've seen a lot of speculations and fantasies that were unfortunately published in quite serious analyses on some sort of contacts from Moscow, from Russia with these figures [leaders] from the Taliban movement. To call this anything more than fantasy, insinuations, hoaxes, or anything else would be inappropriate," Zakharova said during her weekly briefing.
On situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
Moscow insists on peacefull solution in the region.
On pardoning Savchenko
Kiev's aggressive statements following Savchenko's release have soured hopes that the Minsk agreements will be implemented, she added.
NATO expansion
"NATO officials say the alliance's activity is a response to Russian aggression; we cannot remain indifferent to such statements. NATO should focus its attention on the real threats," she added.