MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow district court has sanctioned the arrests of eight suspects in a probe into the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a Moscow City Court spokesperson said Monday.

Politkovskaya, 48, known for her criticism of the Kremlin's policy in Chechnya, was gunned down in an apparent contract killing in a lift in her apartment bloc in Moscow October 7, 2006.

"The Basmanny Court issued arrest warrants for eight suspects in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya," said Anna Usacheva.

The names of the suspects have not been revealed in the interest of the investigation, the spokesperson said.

Russia's Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika earlier said that police have made serious progress in the Politkovskaya murder investigation.

"Ten suspects have been arrested and will soon face criminal charges," he said.

Politkovskaya was the author of two books on Chechnya, A Dirty War: A Russian reporter in Chechnya (2001), and Putin's Russia (2004).

The violent death of Politkovskaya prompted world leaders and international human rights activists to call on the Russian authorities to ensure that this and other high-profile murders of journalists are solved.

Russia, which saw 88 reporters murdered over the past 10 years, is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work. It is second only to Iraq, where 138 media personnel have been killed over the same period.