Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of the war in rebel Chechnya, has been shot dead at her apartment block in central Moscow.
Ms Politkovskaya was well-known for her coverage of the war in Chechnya, where she exposed rights abuses by Russian troops.
Her war reporting often meant she was under scrutiny by Russian politicians and, sometimes, the security services.
Interfax news agency quoted police sources as saying her body was discovered in a lift by a neighbour.
They added that police officers found a pistol and four rounds abandoned in the lift, it reported.
Ms Politkovskaya, who worked for Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper known for its opposition to the Kremlin, acted as a negotiator with the Chechen rebels who laid siege to a Moscow theatre in 2002.
