During the years she spent covering the horrors of the wars in Chechnya for the newspaper "Novaya gazeta," Anna Politkovskaya had any number of brushes with death, including a mock execution and an apparent poisoning. But on October 7, 2006, there was no escape. She was shot dead in her Moscow apartment block, robbing Russia of one of its bravest investigative journalists.

While the motives behind her killing remain unclear, few doubt it was connected to her investigative work. Not only because her slaying bore all the hallmarks of a contract killing, but also since her relentless attacks on President Vladimir Putin's regime and its campaign in Chechnya had earned her many powerful enemies.

On the first anniversary of her death, RFE/RL looks at the life and work of Anna Politkovskaya and the effect her death had on the media in Russia, as well as the consequences the killing of a well-known critic of the Kremlin has for Russia's civil society.

"Russia One Year After the Murder of Anna Politkovskaya"

On October 4 in Prague and then on October 10 in Washington, D.C., RFE/RL hosted the conference "Russia One Year After the Murder of Anna Politkovskaya," with panel discussions about the effect Politkovskaya's death had on the media environment in Russia and the state of that environment today. In the sidebar to the right you can find the multimedia presentation and video of the conference in Prague, as well as audio of the conference in Washington.

Politkovskaya Remembered By Those She Wrote About

RFE/RL also talked to the people whose lives Anna Politkovskaya touched through her reporting on the conflict in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, as well as on terrorist attacks and conflicts inside Russia. As one person who came to know her recalls, she never took sides, but she "defended specific people. She took names, studied their history, investigated the tragedy of each person."

Friends, Colleagues Reflect On Loss Of Courageous Journalist
A year after her death, Anna Politkovskaya is remembered by those she worked with, and including some who wonder whether her death was not in vain. RFE/RL speaks to the journalist's friends and colleagues.

A Woman Who 'Did Everything According To Her Principles'
Days after Anna Politkovskaya was killed in October 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin played down her public importance, saying that although she was "known" in journalistic and human-rights circles, her influence in Russian political life was "minimal." RFE/RL spoke to people who knew her and remember her significance as far more than "minimal."

Chechen Woman's Cause On Hold Without Its Champion
Reports penned by Anna Politkovskaya often had a human element, exposing wrongs committed against everyday citizens. The story of a young mother's abduction at the hands of purported Chechen security personnel was one of many that Politkovskaya told to the world. Her slaying meant the loss of a key voice in the effort to unlock the mystery about what happened to Milana Ozdoyeva. RFE/RL spoke with Milana's mother, whose daughter's fate remains unknown to this day.

Helping Mothers Survive 'The Biggest Grief In The World'
In October 2002, an armed group took more than 800 people hostage inside the Dubrovka theater in southeast Moscow. Their demand: an end to the war in Chechnya. By the time the siege ended, however, all the hostage takers had been shot and killed, and 130 of the hostages were also dead, most from the effects of a gas pumped into the theater by special forces. Anna Politkovskaya was one of the few people permitted inside the building during the standoff. Two women who lost children in the "Nord-Ost" siege remember Politkovskaya.

'She Lived Only For Other People'
For four days in December 2004, members of the police force carried out a so-called special operation in the city of Blagoveshchensk and neighboring settlements in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. Hundreds of people, mainly young men, were rounded up without cause and then beaten with impunity. Anna Politkovskaya traveled to Blagoveshchensk to cover the story for "Novaya gazeta." RFE/RL spoke to local people about their memories of the crusading journalist.

'Her Articles About Beslan Helped Us Understand The Truth'
Much of Anna Politkovskaya's work focused on Chechnya, where she was a vocal critic of Kremlin policy and the local pro-Moscow administration. But she also investigated incidents of terrorism throughout the Caucasus -- including the notorious 2004 Beslan school siege. RFE/RL spoke to residents of Beslan about Politkovskaya.

Reuniting Lost Loved Ones
Anna Politkovskaya is remembered as a journalist who told the truth about the war in Chechnya. In the course of her reporting, she met many wives and mothers, whose husbands or sons were still missing -- many after being taken away by Russian security forces. RFE/RL spoke to some of those women, who say that Politkovskaya was instrumental in reuniting them with their loved ones.

In North Caucasus, Poems For Anna
Anna Politkovskaya didn't consider herself to be an expert on the Caucasus. But a great number of her articles were dedicated to the problems of this tumultuous Russian region. She wrote about it all: the murders and kidnappings of peaceful civilians, the flagrant violations of human rights, the legacy of two military campaigns in Chechnya, the Ossetia-Ingush conflict, the Beslan tragedy. People in the North Caucasus remember a woman of singular intellect, courage, and sensitivity.