Viktoria Tarverdiyeva was born around 1988 and was the eldest daughter of Inessa Tarverdiyeva from her first marriage to Arzu Tarverdiyev, an Azerbaijani man who died under unclear circumstances at a power grid where he worked. Raised in the village of Divnoye in Stavropol Krai, Viktoria grew up in what appeared to be a middle-class family. On the surface, she was an ordinary young woman, but behind closed doors, she was being shaped by a deeply disturbed environment led by her mother and stepfather.

Her stepfather, Roman Podkopaev, was a registered dentist, while her mother, Inessa, was a former nursery school teacher who abandoned her profession for a life of crime. By her teenage years, Viktoria was already participating in family-organized robberies, and by her twenties, she was fully engaged in violent crimes including murder.

Viktoria’s role in the Gang of Amazons spanned from 2007 until the group’s collapse in 2013. She was involved in the early murders of Mikhail Zlydnev and his wife, carried out on February 17, 2008, in Aksai. The couple was murdered inside their home, first shot, then finished with knives. The crime was only the beginning.

On July 17, 2008, the family ambushed a car traveling on a highway, killing a man named Alexei Sazonov and wounding his passenger, Julia Vasilyeva. Again, Viktoria was with the group, carrying out a murder in public space without hesitation.

She was present for the family’s most infamous case — the brutal execution of the Chudakov family on July 8, 2009. Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Chudakov, his wife, and their young son were gunned down in their parked car. Their daughter, 11-year-old Veronika, was stabbed 37 times. Viktoria’s exact role in the Chudakov killings remains unclear, but her presence during the crime has been confirmed. Although her mother would later claim she never harmed children, the gang’s actions spoke for themselves.

In 2010, Viktoria helped target two teenage girls, one reportedly Inessa’s goddaughter. The girls were tortured and had their eyes gouged out before being murdered. Viktoria never claimed responsibility for this directly, but her involvement was proven through witness accounts and forensic trails.

The family continued killing through 2012 and 2013, murdering police officers, security guards, and civilians alike. In March 2013, they shot car inspector Nikolai Kutsekon after he tried to stop them from breaking into a vehicle. In April, they fatally shot Yuri Statsenko, a grocery store worker responding to a triggered alarm.

On April 24, 2013, the gang ambushed and killed police lieutenant Andrei Yurin in front of his home. Later that year, on September 8, Viktoria and Roman Podkopaev attacked another couple and then robbed the home of a military officer, stealing minor household goods. While fleeing the scene on a scooter, they were stopped by police officer Ivan Shakhovoi. Roman pulled out his weapon and opened fire, killing Shakhovoi. Viktoria was caught in the shootout, wounded, and arrested shortly afterward.

Her capture led investigators to the family’s nearby forest encampment, where her mother Inessa and younger sister Anastasiya were found guarding an arsenal of weapons and stolen goods. The discovery linked the gang to dozens of unsolved murders across the region.

Viktoria was convicted in 2017 and initially sentenced to 16 years in a general regime colony. In 2023, prosecutors appealed the sentence, and it was extended to 25 years. Her current whereabouts are unknown to the public, though she is believed to be serving her sentence in a secure Russian penal colony.