Yoe Suarez – WashingtonSTand.com
The name Oemis Romagoza appeared on the identity documents from his native Cuba and his country of residence, Russia. His salsa and bachata students in the city of Petrozavodsk knew him by that name as well. However, the men he recruited for a network linked to Russian military intelligence (GRU) nicknamed him “Dios” (God).
According to an investigation by various European media outlets and judicial authorities, he used that alias and others on social media to recruit — primarily — Hispanic Americans seeking work in Europe. In reality, however, he was the recruiter and logistics handler for a network that orchestrated arson attacks and acts of sabotage in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Lithuania between May and September 2024.
The investigation reveals that Romagoza would contact potential recruits, offer them seemingly ordinary jobs, coordinate their flights, accommodation, and transport, and subsequently issue instructions for specific operations.
One recruit, for instance, was a Colombian with military experience who carried out arson attacks in Warsaw and Radom before targeting a bus depot in Prague. Another individual, based in Lithuania, is linked to an attempted arson attack on the facilities of TVC Solutions, a company that manufactured equipment destined for Ukraine.
Due to these and other incidents, a court in the Southern District of New York placed Romagoza on an international wanted list this month. The U.S. Department of Justice also announced federal charges against two Russians, another Cuban, and a Venezuelan for an alleged conspiracy to finance acts of terrorism.
The Department of Justice indictment further alleges that Romagoza coordinated travel and logistics for the network’s operations and maintained ties to Yuri Khrameev, whom prosecutors identify as a member of Russian intelligence.
According to the document, the network allegedly recruited an individual residing in the United States to carry out the assassination of a prominent Russian dissident living in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as “several people based in the United States to conduct pre-operation surveillance and the assassination itself.”