In numerous articles critical of the war in Chechnya and the pro-Russian regime there, Politkovskaya described alleged abuses committed by Russian military forces, Chechen rebels, and the Russian-backed administration led by Akhmad Kadyrov and his son Ramzan Kadyrov. She talked to officials, the military and the police and also frequently visited hospitals and refugee camps in Chechnya and in neighbouring Ingushetia to interview those injured and uprooted by the renewed fighting. She used each of these occasions to urge greater concern and responsibility by Western governments that, after the 11 September attacks on the United States, welcomed Putin's contribution to their " War on Terror". Politkovskaya won a number of awards for her work.
Interview with Politkovskaya about her experiences covering war in Chechnya, hosted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 20 November 2001, C-SPAN She published several award-winning books about Chechnya, life in Russia, and Russia under Vladimir Putin, including Putin's Russia. From June 1999 to 2006, she wrote columns for the biweekly Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper with strong investigative reporting that was critical of the new post-Soviet regime from the outset. From 1994 to 1999, she worked as the assistant chief editor of Obshchaya Gazeta, headed by Yegor Yakovlev, where she wrote frequently about social problems, particularly the plight of refugees. Politkovskaya worked for Izvestia from 1982 to 1993 as a reporter and editor of the emergencies and accidents section. passport, although she never relinquished her Russian citizenship. Apart from her childhood years, Politkovskaya spent no more than a few weeks outside Russia at any one time, even when her life came under threat.
At first Alexander was better known, joining TV journalist Vladislav Listyev as one of the hosts on the late-night TV programme Vzglyad. While there, she defended a thesis about the poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva and married fellow student Alexander Politkovsky. Politkovskaya spent most of her childhood in Moscow she graduated from Moscow State University's school of journalism in 1980. Her parents, Soviet diplomats at the United Nations, were Ukrainian. Other sources state that she was born in Chernihiv region of Ukraine. Some sources say that her birth name was actually Hanna Mazeppa. Politkovskaya was born Anna Mazepa in New York City in 1958, the daughter of Stepan Fedorovich Mazepa (1927–2006) from Kostobobriv, Ukraine and Raisa Aleksandrovna Mazepa (1929–2021) from Kerch.