A Russian dominatrix who tried to kill her American doppelgänger with a piece of poisoned cheesecake to steal her identity has taken up art in prison as she continues to profess her innocence.
Viktoria Nasyrova, 45, was wanted in Russia for murder when she fled to America in 2014 and started a new life offering “quality massages.”
But she was sentenced to 21 years in prison in April for attempting to kill eyelash stylist Olga Tsvyk with phenazepam at her home in New York City’s Queens borough and making off with the victim’s passport, cash and work permit. .
Nasyrova was caught when her original victim’s daughter hired a private investigator to track her down and discovered she had also drugged and robbed a series of New Yorkers she had met on dating sites.
“I didn’t do anything,” Nasyrova told the New York Post from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. “They turned the trial into a Broadway show.”
Viktoria Nasyrova said ‘everyone knows who I am here’ as she spoke from prison about her conviction for the attempted murder of her former friend Olga Tsvyk
Olga Tsvyk (above) met Nasyrova six months before she was poisoned in 2016
Nazyrova was accused of killing 54-year-old Alla Alekseenko in 2014, and Alekseenko’s daughter Nadeza Ford hired a private investigator to track her down
Nasyrova was labeled “an extremely dangerous woman” by the judge, who sent her to a New York jail after learning about her crime spree that had lasted nearly a decade.
The prisoner admitted that her reputation had preceded her when she arrived at her new home “tied up like Hannibal Lecter” after a fight with a transport guard.
“Everyone here knows who I am,” she told the newspaper New York Post.
“There are some Russian-speaking prisoners, and before I arrived they asked them about me, ‘Do you know she’s coming here? She’s a legend.”
“I don’t want to sound like I’m better than others, even if I am in some ways,” she said of her fellow inmates.
“But to find someone at your intellectual level, it’s hard to find people here that I can really communicate with.
“I want to talk about art, culture, travel, books.”
Nasyrova now earns hundreds of dollars a month as she spends time with her new art hobby.
“I make everything for prisoners: cards, posters, t-shirts,” she said.
Nasyrova herself ate two slices of cheesecake before passing a poisoned third to her friend
The powerful Russian tranquilizer phenazepam used to poison Tsvyk
Tsyvk (left) is said to be a resemblance to Nazirova (right), the glamorous Russian dominatrix involved in a 2014 series of crimes
“I once made birthday decorations for a prisoner’s daughter. She liked the minions so I made big cardboard cutouts and painted them like the minions.
“Then I put on 3D glasses, stood them up and made t-shirts for all the kids with the Minions characters and their names on each t-shirt,
“It’s just the beginning.”
But not all prisoners enjoyed her arrival.
“I got into a fight one time and I was so angry I kept hitting her, and she was covered in blood,” she said.
“Then I realized that if I didn’t stop I would seriously mutilate her. So I quit.’
Nasyrova (left) appears in court after poisoning Tsyk (right) in hopes of stealing her identity
Nasyrova has ties to crimes that date back more than a decade.
She allegedly had sex with a local police officer to flee Russia after the remains of her neighbor Alla Alekseenko, 54, were found burned and buried three kilometers from her home in Krasnodar.
Traffic cameras captured the victim’s body in the front seat of her car as Nasyrova drove it to the cemetery after killing her for her money.
Interpol placed Nasyrova on its Most Wanted list, but she made it to New York, where she was jailed after attempting to steal her new friend’s identity and passing off an alleged murder as suicide.
Tsyvk, an eyelash stylist, met Nasyrova six months before she was poisoned in 2016, the victim shared in court. Nasyrova, the former dominatrix, learned how to get a work permit card from her new friend.
On the day Tsyvk was attacked in 2016, Nasyrova had arrived at her home in Forest Hills, Queens, in desperate need of her services. In return, Nasyrova insisted that she bring the stylist’s cheesecake she bought at a local bakery.
After arriving at her home, Nasyrova ate two slices of cheesecake and offered Tsvyk a third slice, which prosecutors said was laced with the Russian tranquilizer Phenazepan.
Tsvyk told the court that about 20 minutes after eating the pie, she started feeling sick and started vomiting when she got into bed. Tsvk was found by her sister, Iryna Kozachenko, who called the police.
The victim told the judge and jurors that she lived in fear for months after she survived the attack, especially since it took months to capture the former dominatrix.
Alla Alekseenko, age 54, body was found months later, badly burned and reduced to a skull and a few bones identifiable only by dental records
While Nasyrova was on the run, Alekseenko’s shocked daughter discovered that the wanted Russian beauty lived just miles away in Brooklyn.
Alekseenko’s body had been found months after her murder, badly burned and reduced to a skull and a few bones that could only be identified through dental records.
Investigators found $17,000 in cash and jewelry in the home.
Alekseenko’s daughter then paid a private investigator in New York to investigate Nasyrova and bring her to justice. The detective was able to chase Nasyrova and arrest her.
At the time, Nasyrova was also wanted by the NYPD on suspicion of drugging and robbing at least three men she met through a New York dating website.
Victim Ruben Borukhov, 54, testified in court that he was drugged by the scammer while on a date with her. When he woke up, he found charges of up to $2,600 on his credit card and his watch missing.
On the day she was attacked in August 2016, Nasyrova had arrived at her home in Forest Hills, Queens, in urgent need of her services. In return, Nasyrova insisted that she bring the stylist’s cheesecake she bought at a local bakery. Nasyrova smeared the Cheesecake she gave to Tsyvk
Nasyrova still harbors a grudge about the trial even years after the attempted murder.
“The trial was based on the fact that I tried to kill this woman because we look alike and I want to steal her identity,” the convict said this week.
“But she’s not a US citizen, she doesn’t have a green card, she doesn’t have any rights… what’s the point in me trying to kill this woman?
“I’m not a gangster, I’m not a criminal, I’m an ordinary person.”
But she insisted she “will not tolerate any disrespect” in prison.
“If people call me Russia or anything other than my name, I don’t respond,” she added.
“I tell them, ‘You can call me Viktoria or prisoner Nasyrova, not Russia, or Whitey, or anything but my name.’
“You don’t have to like me, but you have to respect me.”
Nasyrova said ‘f*** you’ to Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder when he sentenced her
She said the food in her new home is “garbage,” but is happy to have lost 20 pounds. She has also refused to participate in anger management courses.
“It’s bulls-t,” she said.
“I do have anger issues, but those aren’t the kind of anger issues these classes can help me with.”
She compared herself to Matt Damon’s character in The Martian, a movie that she said “inspired” her.
‘Can you imagine someone in such a situation? To be left alone on a strange planet, and not only to survive, but to come back home?’ she asked.
“For me it’s the same situation – not just to survive in prison, but to gain my freedom.”
But Tsvyk told the Post she fears Nasyrova would win her freedom and return to finish her off.
“She’s a very dangerous person, a scary person,” Tsvyk said.
‘She’s a manipulator and a liar. I thank God she can no longer do what she has done to people, although who knows what she will do in prison. She is capable of anything.
“I hope they don’t release her sooner or she’ll come after me.”