Sarah Rainsford Biography
Sarah Rainsford is a Television personality working as BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent based in Warsaw. Previously, she was BBC Moscow Correspondent before she was expelled from Russia in August 2022. She has also reported from Istanbul, Madrid, and Havana while working for the BBC since 1998.
Sarah Rainsford Age
How old is Sarah Rainsford? Sarah is around 50 years old as of 2023. However, her birthday is unknown.
Sarah Rainsford Height
She is 5 feet 7 inches tall (Approximately 1.7m or 170cm).
Sarah Rainsford Nationality
She is of British nationality.
Sarah Rainsford Education
Rainsford attended her secondary school in the Midlands. She then joined Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge and graduated with a degree in languages, specializing in Russian and French. As part of her studies, she spent a year abroad in Saint Petersburg. She also played football while at Fitzwilliam College and was nicknamed Crusher after breaking a girl’s collarbone.
Sarah Rainsford Parents
Who is Sarah Rainsford’s father? Sarah is the daughter of Derek Rainsford, formerly of Drakes Broughton. Her father lives in Monmouth, Wales. However, there is no information about her mother.
Sarah Rainsford Husband
Is Sarah Rainsford married? Sarah is married to Kester Aspden, a writer. They met at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge where both were studying; Kester was doing a Ph.D. while Sarah was undertaking a degree in languages.
In an interview, Sarah described her husband as a rare species. “A portable husband is a rare species in foreign correspondent circles.” She also added, “He can also thank me for taking him to Havana for three years when he learned to dance salsa. Now he’s planning to write about that.”
When the couple was in Istanbul her husband wrote the book, ‘The Hounding of David Oluwale.’ The book won a Gold Dagger award for crime non-fiction. However, Sarah hasn’t disclosed whether she has children or not.
Sarah Rainsford BBC News
Who is Sarah Rainsford on BBC News? Rainsford is a BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent based in Warsaw. She started off as an intern and later became a producer at Bloomberg TV. After that, she got a job with the BBC Russian Service. In August 2000, Rainsford moved to Moscow. It was right after the Kursk submarine sank and at the very beginning of Vladimir Putin’s time in power. Two days later she was covering the disaster as a producer.
In 2002, Rainsford got her break when the Nord-Ost theatre siege happened. A group of Chechen militants stormed a Moscow theatre in the middle of a musical, taking hundreds of people hostage. She ended up outside doing her first live reports on a mobile phone. Then in September 2004, the horrific school siege in Belsan was a huge story. Her team won a Sony Gold for their coverage.
Later on, she was based in Istanbul, Madrid, and Cuba. She worked in Havana, Cuba for three years from 2011. While in Cuba, She wrote her book, ‘Our Woman in Havana: Reporting Castro’s Cuba’. In an interview, she said; “Cuba was the most frustrating place I’d ever been as a journalist. Of course, it’s a tropical island with a fascinating history. But it’s also a one-party state where you need Communist Party permission to film anything and most of the time the answer’s no. I managed to get some great stories in any case.”
In 2014, Rainsford was deployed to Kyiv for a month. She later headed back to Moscow. However, Rainsford was informed by the Russian government in mid-August 2021 that her visa would not be renewed, in effect expelling her as part of retaliatory actions between the United Kingdom and Russia over news coverage.
Tim Davie, the Director-General of the BBC, stated that “the expulsion of Rainsford is a direct assault on media freedom which we condemn unreservedly. Rainsford is an exceptional and fearless journalist. She is a fluent Russian speaker who provides independent and in-depth reporting of Russia and the former Soviet Union… We urge the Russian authorities to reconsider their decision. In the meantime, we will continue to report events in the region independently and impartially.”
Commonly Asked Questions
What has happened to Sarah Rainsford?
Sarah has been expelled from Russia. She was forced to leave Russia at the end of August 2022 after her visa expired and the authorities made it clear that her visa will not be renewed. The Russian state media said the move was in retaliation for the refusal of the UK to grant visas to Russian journalists.
“I am being expelled – it’s not a failure to renew my visa, although technically that’s what it is. I’m being expelled and I’ve been told that I can’t come back, ever,” she said.
Who is Sarah Rainsford married to?
Sarah is married to Kester Aspden, a writer.
What languages does Sarah Rainsford speak?
She speaks English and Russian languages.
Sarah Rainsford Salary
She receives an average annual salary of $50,000 – $110,500 as of 2023.
Sarah Rainsford Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of $1 million – $5 million as of 2023.
