Anna Sevortian, Director of Human Rights Watch's Russia Office, has fifteen years of experience working on human rights issues in the former Soviet Union.  As director of the Russia office, Sevortian conducts research and advocacy on human rights issues in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, oversees the work of the Moscow office, and serves as Human Rights Watch's spokesperson in the region. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Sevortian served as the Deputy Director of the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights in Moscow.

Sevortian holds a master's in Journalism from Moscow State University and will finish her PhD there. In 2007-2008 she received a Chevening Award for conducting a research project on Russian non-governmental organizations and their relationship with the state. She also was a visiting fellow at the Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge, and Galina Starovoitova Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.