A Cuban Dance Instructor in Russia Recruited a Dozen People to Firebomb Targets Across Europe for the GRU

An investigation published September 14, 2026 by DW - identified a salsa instructor living in Russia as the handler behind a wave of arson attacks carried out by recruits across four European countries on behalf of Russian military intelligence. Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban national who teaches Latin dance in the Russian city of Petrozavodsk, ran the operation under the aliases "Adrian" and "Dios" - Spanish for "God" - without ever meeting a single one of his recruits in person. The investigation is available on YouTube: 

Job Ads for "Disposable Agents"

According to DW, Romagoza posted job ads on Telegram and in Facebook groups aimed at Spanish speakers and Cuban expatriates in Russia - one, in Russian, offered "work as a photographer" in Poland; another sought "people with military experience in monitoring, intelligence, logistics and tactical maneuvers" for $1,500 plus a bonus per completed job. He also messaged people directly in Facebook groups for Latin Americans hoping to enlist in Ukraine's foreign legion, telling at least two of them not to go to Ukraine and offering paid "special missions" in Europe instead. Researchers who study Russian intelligence told DW this fits a known pattern: recruits are first given a low-risk task like photographing a building, then told they've already committed a crime by working for a foreign intelligence service, and pressured into continuing under threat of exposure. Once a recruit had finished that reconnaissance, Romagoza escalated to arson - sending satellite images marking targets, and in at least one case instructing a recruit to buy fire-starting materials.

Fires in Four Countries

Over roughly four months in 2024, DW confirmed Romagoza directed recruits to set fire to two construction-supply businesses in Poland, a bus garage in the Czech Republic, and a recycling facility in Romania, and to carry out reconnaissance against the campaign's most significant target: TVC Solutions, a Lithuanian company that was manufacturing radio-signal-detection trailers for the Ukrainian military at the time. Lithuanian prosecutors are the only authority to have publicly named the agency behind the campaign, attributing it to Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU.

See also: A UK man charged of assisting GRU in preparing an act of sabotage.

At Least a Dozen Recruits

DW reports that at least a dozen people carried out or attempted to carry out missions for Romagoza, most of them Spanish speakers from Colombia, Cuba, and Russia. At least nine have since been caught. Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, a former Colombian soldier who thought he was signing up to fight for Ukraine, was arrested photographing a Romanian recycling facility and sentenced to six years for attempted sabotage. 

Andrés Alfonso de la Hoz de la Cruz, a Colombian army veteran, was arrested in Czechia after setting fires in Poland and Prague and was sentenced to eight years for terrorism; Poland has separately charged him and he's still awaiting trial there.

 Gonzalo R., a dual Colombian-Russian citizen, and Mayra L., a dual Cuban-Spanish citizen, were both sent to photograph the Lithuanian target - he's now on trial in Lithuania after being extradited from Colombia, and she was arrested in Panama this July trying to get back to Cuba. Two more recruits attempted to firebomb the Lithuanian company but fled when they spotted a police car; six others are currently standing trial there.

Still Teaching Dance

Lithuania has placed Romagoza on an international wanted list, but he has not been arrested and DW reports he's likely still in Russia. 

As of this April, the dance studio where he teaches was still posting videos of his salsa classes, and he had joined more Facebook groups advertising work in Poland to Latin Americans. He did not respond to DW's request for comment.