Excerpts from: RUSSIAN MFA: 01.04.2026, Briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, Moscow, April 1, 2026
Question: Today is April Fool’s Day. I have an idea. We are faced with the complete illiteracy of many Western officials whose activities have an impact on international life.
Maybe we should allocate several places at our leading universities and invite Kaja Kallas and other EU leaders there to improve their qualifications?
Answer: I don’t think this is funny. This is not a laughing matter.
You say: “Teach K. Kallas.” And where should she be taught? At the university? The mistakes that she and her colleagues make are not a university program. It’s grade school.
History, 9th grade. K.Kallas stated that the participation of the USSR and China in the victory over fascism in World War II was “news” to her.
When did she say that? In the year of the anniversary of the Victory over Nazism and fascism, the end of World War II. In that jubilee year, she declares that the participation of the USSR and China in the victory over fascism in World War II was news to her.
We are a country that lost more than 27 million citizens and hoisted the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag. In her opinion, where were we but defeating fascism on all fronts? On the West, and then on the East.
Again, it’s not a university curriculum, but a school curriculum.
- Kallas gets a “2”.
[The grade range for schoolchildren in Russia is “5” for excellent, “2” for unsatisfactory.]
The same K. Kallas claimed that over the past hundred years, Russia “has attacked 19 countries, none of which has ever attacked Russia.” Does this list, or does it not, include the First World War, the Second World War, the 1918 intervention? This is all a basic school course.
- Kallas gets a “2”.
By the way, the Estonian court has already ordered her to publicly withdraw her own statements, which they found to be factually unreliable. But now, apparently, she is outside its jurisdiction, or the Estonian court has already given up on her.
And you want to teach her at our universities?!
As for Kallas’ European colleagues:
Which class should we start with? The sixth grade?
Geometry, 6th grade. In February 2023, at the Munich Security Conference, German Foreign Minister A. Baerbock called on Russia to “turn 360 degrees” in order to radically change its approach. Any sixth grader knows that a 360-degree turn returns to the starting point.
Baerbock gets a solid “2”. Although I’m not sure if it’s even a “2”.
Geography, 7th grade. In 2022, British Foreign Minister L. Truss said in an interview with the BBC that London supports “Baltic allies through the Black Sea.” This kind of thing has come to be normal! The Baltic and Black Seas are separated by more than a thousand kilometers. Which university do you propose to send her to? This is school curriculum.
Truss gets a “2”.
At the negotiations in Moscow, the same L. Truss, when asked by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, whether she recognizes Russian sovereignty over the Rostov and Voronezh regions, she confidently said that she would never recognize it.
I remember how the British ambassador blushed, bent down and whispered to her that the mentioned regions were part of Russia. Let me remind you that Rostov was founded in 862, and Voronezh in 1586.
Truss gets another “2”.
[Emphasis added.]
[YANDEX TRANSLATION:] Russian text is at: https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/2090405/ (with video – 3:44:47)
Zakharova saved her comments on Kallas et al. until the very end of her almost 4-hour briefing.