WARSAW, Oct 7 — Assassinated Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead outside her Moscow home in 2006, had “predicted” Russia’s trajectory under Vladimir Putin, her editor told AFP ahead of the 20th anniversary of her death.

Politkovskaya had reported fearlessly on the war in Chechnya and the rise of Putin, warning of his authoritarian tendencies at a time when he was being welcomed and courted in the West.

She was gunned down in the lift of her central Moscow apartment block on October 7, 2006 — Putin’s 54th birthday.

Her killing marked a turning point for Russian journalism.

Two decades on, Putin is still in power, Moscow’s war against Ukraine — which has killed hundreds of thousands — is in its fifth year, and domestic repression has reached levels not seen since the Soviet era.