Cuban dance teacher ordered EU sabotage attacks from Russia
DW and partners say the network used online job ads and recruited at least 12 disposable agents for arson and sabotage, prosecutors said.
- DW and partner broadcasters confirmed that Cuban national Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, operating under aliases 'Adrian' and 'Dios,' recruited and remotely directed agents to conduct arson across at least four European countries in 2024, targeting construction businesses in Poland, a bus garage in the Czech Republic, a recycling facility in Romania, and equipment in Lithuania.
- After leaving Cuba in 2015, Romagoza established himself as a Latin dance teacher in Petrozavodsk, Russia, obtaining Russian citizenship in 2022; facing financial difficulties in 2023, he joined Facebook groups for Latin Americans seeking work and began posting recruitment advertisements on Telegram offering $1,500 plus bonuses.
- Romagoza recruited Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, a 34-year-old Colombian former soldier who had enlisted in the Ukrainian army in early 2024; in July 2024, Romagoza organized Murillo's travel to Bucharest, provided satellite images of targets, and instructed him to photograph locations before setting fires.
- Murillo was sentenced in 2025 to six years in prison for attempted sabotage, while at least nine of Romagoza's recruits have been caught with two serving six to eight-year sentences; Lithuanian prosecutors attributed the attacks to Russia's GRU and placed Romagoza on an international wanted list.
- Conflict researcher Keir Giles told DW that the Kremlin increasingly relies on 'disposable agents' following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when EU government expulsions of Russian diplomats created intelligence gaps; Estonia and Poland reported ongoing arson at military-related facilities in August 2024.
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The Colombian citizen who set fire to public transport buses in Prague in June 2024 was recruited online by a Cuban who worked for Russian secret services. This was discovered by the German station Deutsche Welle in a joint investigation with three other European stations. The station found that the same Cuban recruited several other agents who carried out or wanted to carry out sabotage operations in Europe.
Jornal Expresso
SapoMan allegedly recruited people through social networks and job advertisements, being associated with attacks in at least four countries of the European Union. He is already suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Lithuania
By Day, He Taught Salsa in Russia. By Night, He Recruited Saboteurs Across Europe
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.
A DW investigation revealed that a Cuban dance teacher from Russia, alias' Dios', recruited people over the internet for sabotage in the EU at Moscow's behest, using vulnerable individuals as 'disposable agents'.
A Cuban-Russian salsa instructor has emerged as a possible key figure behind a series of sabotage actions that rocked Europe in 2024. This salsa dancer allegedly recruited people from South America, among others, to set fires or carry out other attacks in four European countries on orders from Russia. The goal: to sow fear and undermine European support for Ukraine. The salsa instructor is still being sought.
A Cuban dance instructor established in Russia was used by Moscow to coordinate sabotage operations in Europe, including Romania. According to an investigation by Deutsche Welle, the man was recruited by the Russian services. Cubans, known as "Adrian" or "Deus" (Goddessius, n.r.) sent to us in the country a Colombian charged with causing a fire at an oil well.
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