Politkovkaya biography

Anna Politkovskaya, a courageous Russian journalist who made enemies among Russia's official and unofficial power and survived more than one attempt on her life, was murdered in Moscow on the day of president Putin's birthday.

She will remain the epitome of what an independent journalist should be.

She was born Anna Stepanovna Mazepa on August 30, 1958, in New York, where her Soviet-Ukrainian parents were diplomats at the United Nations. Her father, named Stepan Mazepa, was a ranking diplomat at the Ukrainian branch of the Soviet Mission at the UN.

Young Anna went to school in the USA and grew up in a bilingual environment. In the 1970s she studied journalism and literature at Moscow University, graduating in 1980, with her thesis on Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva. Politkovskaya began her journalist career in 'Izvestia', a leading Soviet paper of the time, then worked as correspondent for Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, and traveled extensively all over the former So