A Cuban salsa teacher living in #Russia, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy (35), coordinated a 2024 wave of arson and sabotage across at least 4 #EU countries on behalf of Russian intelligence ( #GRU).
– On Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department charged Romagoza as one of 5 alleged members of a Russia-linked network with conspiracy to provide material support to #terrorism. The others are:
– Yuri Khrameev (63), ex-colonel in Russian intelligence
– Kirill Khrameev (27), an #FSB officer and Yuri’s son
– Yaidel Delgado Suarez (35), Cuban recruiter
– Angel Eduardo Castro (22), Venezuelan recruiter
– Romagoza recruited mostly Spanish-speaking “disposable agents” via Telegram and Facebook, then directed them remotely.
– The recruits were often cash-strapped people looking for work or hoping to fight in #Ukraine.
– Romagoza never met the recruits in person. He arranged travel, lodging, and pointed them to the targets.
– They included construction-supply firms in #Poland, a bus garage in #Czechia, a recycling plant in #Romania, equipment bound for Ukraine from #Lithuania, etc.
– Lithuania put him on an international wanted list.
– At least a dozen people were recruited and 9 have been caught.
– Romagoza has lived in Russia for at least 7 years, teaches Latin dance at a Petrozavodsk studio called Made in Cuba, married a Russian woman, and obtained Russian citizenship.
– The story is part of a broader pattern: after many Russian diplomats were expelled, Moscow turned to cheap, deniable online recruits for arson, parcel bombs, and other attacks meant to disrupt aid to Ukraine and project reach.
– Similar incidents continued into 2026.
– The Iranian- and #IRGC-linked group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya ( #HAYI) used a similar disposable-recruit pattern in a 2026 wave of attacks on #Jewish and Israeli targets across Europe, and especially in #London.
– Not surprisingly Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, the IRGC-linked operative describe as the key coordinator of the HAYI campaign, was reportedly en route to Moscow when he was arrested in Turkey and handed over to U.S. authorities.
– Russia was already on his travel map well before he was detained in Turkey.
– That reported destination is the point of overlap. Russia is not only running its own cut-out sabotage networks but it has also become a reported waypoint for an IRGC-linked coordinator using the same disposable-agent model.
– Whether Al-Saadi was headed there for sanctuary or for coordination, Moscow sits at the junction of two campaigns that outsource violence and sabotage in #Europe to cheap, deniable recruits.
dw.com/en/cuban-dance-teache…— @Shtuni Sep 16, 2026
Categories