Beletskaya was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia) in 1933. She graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1955 where she focused her undergraduate research on organoarsenic chemistry. She obtained the Candidate of Chemistry (analogous to Ph.D.) degree in 1958. For this degree she investigated electrophilic substitution reactions. More specifically, she explored the influence of ammonia on a-bromomercurophenylacetic acid reactions. In 1963 she received her Dr.Sci. degree from the same institution. In 1970 she became a Full Professor of Chemistry at Moscow State University, where she currently serves as head of the [http://www.chem.msu.su/eng/lab/orgcomp.html Organoelement Chemistry Laboratory]. Beletskaya was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Science of USSR in 1974. In 1992 she became a full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Between 1991 and 1993 she served as president of the Division of Organic Chemistry of IUPAC. Until 2001 she served on the IUPAC Committee on Chemical Weapons Destruction Technology (CWDT). She is editor-in chief of the [https://link.springer.com/journal/11178 Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry].
Beletskaya initially researched the reaction mechanisms of organic reactions, focusing on compounds with metal-carbon bonds. Her research included Grignard-like reactions and lanthanide complexes in the context of catalysts. She and Prof. O. Reutov worked on electrophilic reactions at saturated carbon. She also investigated the reaction mechanisms of organometallic compounds. She also researched carbanion reactivity, emphasizing the reactivity and structure of ion pairs.  Once more advanced in her career, Beltskaya focused more on transition metal catalysts and developing economically favorable catalysts. Currently, she serves as the head of the Laboratory of Organoelement Compounds within the Department of Chemistry at Moscow State University, where she has concentrated her research on carbon dioxide utilization and its utility in renewable energy and reactions with epoxides.