Anna was born on August 30, 1958 in New York, where her parents were doing diplomatic work.

In 1980 she graduated from the Journalism Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. After graduation she worked and cooperated with various newspapers, such as Izvestia, Vozdushny Transport, Megalopolis Express, and the  publishing houses, namely Eskart and Parity. From 1999 she became an observer of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Starting from July, 1999 Anna made repeated journalist trips to the zones of military operations and refugee camps in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. In December of the same year she arranged evacuation of 89 inhabitants of the Grozny nursing home, who were settled in the territory of Russia with her efforts.

Anna Politkovskaya was deeply engaged in human rights activity, helped out mothers of lost soldiers in courts, carried out investigations of corruption and even took part in negotiations with terrorists - aggressors of Nord Ost.

The journalist Anna Politkovskaya was killed in the lift of her house on Saturday, October 7. The preliminary investigation suggests that her professional activity is the main obvious motive for the murder. The investigation is being led by the General Procuracy of Russia under personal control of department's head Yury Chayka. Alexander Politkovsky, husband of the deceased, says he doesn't expect the murderer to be found. He also reports, that his wife started to get threats two years ago. However, it's not known whether she informed the police about being threatened.