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Obituary: Shavkat Rakhmatullayev

Thursday 16 April 2015

Shavkat Rakhmatullayev, who worked for Reuters in the former Soviet Union for nearly two decades, died on 10 April after battling illness and was buried in Moscow at a service attended by family and many former colleagues.

Shavkat joined Reuters TV in Moscow in 1994 as a freelancer and by the following year was appointed cameraman/producer based in Almaty in Kazakhstan, Timothy Heritage writes.

A gentle man blessed with immense wit and humour, he had a way of getting access to events and places where others would have failed. Responsible for many years for covering the whole of Central Asia, he covered elections, uprisings, revolutions, earthquakes, ethnic conflicts, space launches and the destruction of the Aral Sea, as well as shooting many beautiful features and travelling repeatedly to Afghanistan and Iran.

It was perhaps fitting that Shavkat was buried on Russia’s Cosmonauts Day. Space was his passion and the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was a favourite destination. He knew just about everything and everybody there, from space officials to cosmonauts and even the technicians.

Former colleagues at the funeral paid tribute to his energy to the end, his charm, his fine hospitality and the lasting friendship he offered so many people. RIP Shavkat. ■