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| “ | I will tell you a Russian love poem. It could be long, it could be short. Depends, unless you want to shoot me now and not hear anything. | „ |
| ~ Alexander Strizhov before explaining his motives. |
Alexander "Alex" Strizhov (Russian: Александр Стрижов) is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Russian Love Poem". He is a Russian immigrant who murders an American businessman named Andrew Harlin.
He was portrayed by Olek Krupa, who also portrayed Sasha Osinski and Constantin Volsky in Law & Order, Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky in Eraser, and Petr Beaupre in Home Alone 3.
Biography[]
Little is revealed of Alexander's past. He claims his father was good man with a good heart and his mother was devoted to his father, despite him sleeping with other women in the same room as her. Having a rather skewed outlook on love, Alex claimed to be in love with a Russian prostitute named Katya Ivanova.
He brought her illegally to America, where she continued her profession, but soon dumped Alex for wealthy married American businessmen. Alex also slept around with other prostitutes, including a nightclub singer named Sonya Pietrovicz who would go on to be Katya's friend. However, the others meant nothing to Alex and the only person he actually loved was Katya.
When she left him, he felt betrayed and wanted to make her hurt. So, he followed Katya and Sonya to a client's house and strangled the client after the two girls had left him in a harness. The client, Andrew Harlin's wife and daughter discovered the body, and because the sexual nature of the crime, the Special Victims Unit were called in to investigate. Looking through all of Andrew's partners, which included men and women, the SVU eventually discovered that he often hired Russian prostitutes and spoiled them with expensive gifts. Katya in particular, he had spent two million on, and was suing her for it back. Upon discovering this, the SVU believed that Katya had clear motive for killing Andrew.
While looking for Katya, Sonya called the SVU and claimed she was scared for her life. SVU detectives Munch and Cassidy arrived at the apartment of Sonya's aunt and found Sonya and her aunt murdered by a hatchet. While searching for Katya, Alex barged into the station and confessed about killing Andrew. However, he claims that he shot Andrew like a dog. This leads the SVU to believe Alex is covering for Katya due to being in love with her.
While detectives Stabler and Benson are out looking for Katya, Munch and Cassidy run into a drunk Russian they had befriended earlier, who heard the murder of Sonya and her aunt, and claims Alexander was the one who did it. Detectives Stabler and Benson soon track down Katya and get her to come down to the station for interrogation. Katya explains that she and Sonya did in fact visit Andrew the night of his death, but to tease him, as revenge for suing her. However, she doesn't want to talk about about Alexander, but is soon persuaded after Benson threatens to charge her with the murders. Katya agrees to wear a wire and help get a confession out of Alexander.
She meets him at his favorite bar, while the SVU is listening through her wire. Things appear to get ugly so the SVU burst in the door. But, Alexander claims he's not gonna shoot anybody, and empties the bullets in his revolver, leaving only one left in the chamber. He then points the gun at himself, and explains everything in what he refers to as a Russian love poem. He says that Katya broke his heart so he wanted her to hurt, too. He strangled Andrew, but was forced to kill Sonya after he accidentally told her about murdering Andrew. He had to kill Sonya's aunt too, because she came back too early from the store. Alexander then commits suicide when the gun goes off into his heart.
Victims[]
- Andrew Harlin - Strangled with a rope.
- Sonya Pietrovicz - Hacked with a hatchet.
- Sonya's Aunt - Hacked with a hatchet.
External Links[]
- Alexander Strizhov on the Law & Order Wiki
