Politkovskaya, Anna Stepanovna

(1958–2006)

   Journalist. Born Anna Mazepa to Soviet Ukrainian parents in New York (both of whom served as diplomats to the United Nations), Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist, author, and human rights activist, known for her strong opposition to the war in Chechnya and Vladimir Putin’s administration. She authored a number of publications on Chechnya, as well as a book entitled Putin’s Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy (2004), for which she received prestigious international awards. She was assassinated in her Moscow apartment building in 2006. The Russian police have failed to find her murderers. Politkovskaya held dual citizenship of the Russian Federation and the United States. She grew up in Moscow and completed a course in journalism from the Moscow State University. She first worked for Izvestiya> newspaper, and then for Novaya Gazeta>. In her reports on the second Chechen War, she focused on the human tragedies, and chronicled human rights abuses and policy failures of the Russian military forces, Chechen terrorists, and the Russianbacked republican administration. She was involved in negotiating the release of hostages during the Nord-Ost theater (2002) and Beslan (2004) crises. Her exposure of atrocities during the Chechen War is believed to have been related to her murder.