Cuban dance instructor linked to Russian sabotage in Europe

A Cuban dance instructor, operating under the pseudonym ‘Dios’ or ‘Adrian,’ coordinated a series of sabotage operations across at least four European Union countries in 2024 on behalf of Russian intelligence services. Investigations indicate that Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, who has lived in Russia for at least seven years, used social media and Telegram to recruit individuals for monitoring and sabotage missions.

Recruitment efforts targeted vulnerable individuals, particularly Spanish-speaking people with military experience, by promising salaries of $1,500 plus bonuses per operation. One recruit, former Colombian soldier Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, was arrested in Bucharest in July 2024 and subsequently sentenced to six years in prison.

Lithuanian authorities have linked these activities to the Russian military intelligence service, known as the GRU. Reported acts of sabotage include fires at a shopping center in Poland and a bus depot in the Czech Republic. The operation utilized what investigators describe as ‘disposable agents’ who often lacked full knowledge of the true nature of their missions.