Maria Golovnina (russian: Мария Васильевна Головнина; 4 June 1980 – 23 February 2015), was a Japanese-Russian journalist, best known for her reporting in Central Asia, being the

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

bureau chief for

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, and for the circumstances of her death. Golovnina was referred to as "one of the greats" of Reuters by the agency's former head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Michael Stott.

Personal life

Golovnina was born in Russia, and raised in Japan. Her father was long time ITAR-TASS Tokyo correspondent Vasily Golovnin. She was distantly related to the Russian explorer

Vasily Golovnin Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin ( Russian: Василий Михайлович Головнин; , Gulyniki, Ryazan Oblast – , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian navigator, Vice Admiral, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences ...

. Although her first languages were

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, her reporting for

was largely in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Career

Golovnina began working for Reuters in 2001 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. She worked in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

before being posted in Russia from 2002 to 2005, where she covered topics such as the

Moscow theater hostage crisis The Moscow theater hostage crisis (also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege) was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater by Chechen terrorists on 23 October 2002, which involved 850 hostages and ended with Russian security services killing o ...

. In 2005, she became Reuters' chief correspondent in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. She covered the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

in 2009 and did several stints in Iraq. She moved to the London editing desk in 2010. In 2011, she traveled to

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

to cover the

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

, where she was a part of the team that received Reuters' first Pulitzer Prize nomination in its history. In 2013, she became Reuters' bureau chief for

and

, a position she held until her death in 2015. In 2010 Golovnina saved the life of Reuters’ photographer Shamil Zhumatov in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

, who had been attacked and beaten by a crowd of protesters in the central square of Bishkek. Golovnina rallied other journalists and a crowd of locals and convinced the protesters to release Zhumatov who she then took to a hospital.

Death

In 2015, Golovnina was found unconscious in the bathroom of her office in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

, after reporting that she felt sick to her stomach, and was rushed to hospital but died on the way, at the age of 34. Preliminary autopsy findings at the Pakistan Institute for Medical Sciences concluded that she died of

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that ca ...

due to a blockage in her upper respiratory tract. The autopsy also reported that markings were found around Golovnina's neck, though the cause of the marks has not been determined. Tissue and fluid samples were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for further analysis, and to rule out

poisoning A poison can be any substance that is harmful to the body. It can be swallowed, inhaled, injected or absorbed through the skin. Poisoning is the harmful effect that occurs when too much of that substance has been taken. Poisoning is not to ...

as a cause of death. A memorial service took place for Maria Golovnina in June 2015, attended by 200 people, at St. Bride's Church, London's so-called journalists' church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golovnina, Maria 1980 births 2015 deaths Russian women journalists Reuters people Russian expatriates in Japan Russian expatriates in Pakistan