By Day, He Taught Salsa in Russia. By Night, He Recruited Saboteurs Across Europe

Key Points:

• A Cuban national living in Russia, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, allegedly recruited a network of operatives to carry out sabotage and arson attacks across at least four EU countries in 2024, according to a joint investigation by Deutsche Welle and European broadcasters.
• Romagoza, a dance instructor in Petrozavodsk using online aliases such as “Dios,” targeted Spanish-speaking recruits with military backgrounds through Telegram ads, offering payments and bonuses for sabotage missions benefiting Russia.
• One recruit, Colombian ex-soldier Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, was arrested in Romania while attempting arson at a waste-processing facility; he was sentenced to six years in prison, and at least a dozen others were similarly recruited for attacks in Poland, Czechia, Romania, and Lithuania.
• Lithuanian prosecutors publicly linked the arson plots to Russian military intelligence, issuing an international wanted notice for Romagoza, who reportedly obtained Russian citizenship in 2022 and may have faced financial difficulties before starting the recruitment.
• The network reflects a broader pattern of Russian sabotage in Europe post-2022 invasion of Ukraine, with many operatives described as “disposable agents”; at least nine recruits have been detained, though it is unclear if Romagoza continued activities after September 2024.