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By Day, He Taught Salsa in Russia. By Night, He Recruited Saboteurs Across Europe
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A Cuban national living in Russia recruited a network of operatives to carry out sabotage and arson attacks across at least four European Union countries in 2024, according to a joint investigation by Deutsche Welle and three other European broadcasters.
The investigation identified the alleged recruiter as Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban-born dance instructor based in Petrozavodsk in northern Russia who operated online under aliases including “Dios” and “Adrian.”
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According to DW, accounts linked to Dios published recruitment advertisements on Telegram in 2024, targeting people seeking work in Poland, Cubans living in Russia, and Latin Americans with military backgrounds. Some advertisements sought candidates with experience in surveillance, reconnaissance, logistics, and tactical maneuvering, offering $1,500 as well as bonuses for completed operations.
After months of reporting, interviews with intelligence officials and people close to suspects, and analysis of confidential court records, official statements, social media posts, and leaked data, DW and its partners concluded that Dios recruited people to conduct sabotage operations benefiting Russia in at least four EU countries. Most of those recruited came from Spanish-speaking countries.
Among them was Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, a Colombian national and former soldier who initially sought to join the Ukrainian military in early 2024. Murillo joined a Facebook group for Latin Americans interested in fighting in Ukraine, where he was contacted by Dios.
According to confidential court documents reviewed by DW, Dios introduced himself as a member of a special group and instead offered Murillo “special tasks” in Europe. After Murillo accepted, Dios arranged his flights, accommodation, and ground transportation remotely, with the two never meeting in person.
When Murillo arrived in Bucharest in July 2024, Dios sent him a satellite image marking a waste-processing facility and an oil well. According to the investigation, Murillo was instructed to photograph and film the sites before setting them on fire.
Romanian authorities detained him near the waste-processing facility after he had taken photographs but before any arson took place. Murillo told investigators that he had not intended to start a fire, saying he had been trying to reach Europe before traveling to Ukraine and did not know who he was working for. In 2025, a Romanian court sentenced him to six years in prison for attempted sabotage.
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DW and its partners established that Murillo was one of at least a dozen people recruited by Dios for sabotage operations across Europe. Such recruits are often described as “disposable agents,” people hired online who may have little or no knowledge of the identity of their handlers or the broader purpose behind their assignments.
The investigation found that over a four-month period in 2024, Dios instructed recruits to set fire to building-material warehouses in Poland, a bus depot in Czechia, a waste-processing facility in Romania, and Lithuanian-made equipment intended for Ukraine.
Lithuanian prosecutors were the only authorities cited in the investigation to have publicly linked this particular series of arson plots to Russian military intelligence. Lithuanian law enforcement also issued an international wanted notice for a Cuban national living in Russia.
By examining confidential court documents and dozens of leaked files, DW and its partners identified that individual as Oemis Romagoza Durruthy.
Originally from Camagüey, Cuba, Romagoza has lived in Russia for at least seven years and teaches Latin American dance in Petrozavodsk. He is listed as a contact for the local Made in Cuba dance studio, with videos online showing him teaching salsa, bachata, and kizomba.
Romagoza married a Russian woman in 2022 and later obtained Russian citizenship, according to the investigation. DW said it could not determine when or under what circumstances he allegedly began working for Russian intelligence services.
The investigation found indications that Romagoza may have experienced financial difficulties before the alleged recruitment operation began. Leaked records showed that he took out loans from several lenders in 2023. Several months later, he joined Facebook groups used by Latin Americans looking for work in Poland or seeking to fight for Ukraine, around the same period that Dios began publishing recruitment advertisements on Telegram.
The investigation placed the network within a broader pattern of suspected Russian sabotage operations in Europe following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Conflict expert Keir Giles told DW that Russia increasingly turned to disposable agents after European governments expelled numerous Russian diplomats suspected of espionage and disinformation activities following the start of the invasion in 2022.
At least nine people recruited by Romagoza have been detained, according to DW. Two are already serving prison sentences of between six and eight years for attempted sabotage or terrorism, while the others are awaiting trial.
It remains unclear whether Romagoza continued recruiting operatives or organizing attacks after September 2024. However, DW reported that suspected Russian sabotage activities across Europe have continued, with authorities in several EU countries investigating more recent attacks and fires for possible links to Russia.
The investigation comes as European countries step up efforts to counter Russian hybrid operations. Germany and Ukraine recently agreed to deepen security cooperation against such threats, with Ukrainian intelligence and law enforcement specialists set to share their experience in countering drones, sabotage, espionage, and cyberattacks.
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