Aliia Roza, a former Russian citizen who claims to be an ex-spy, is speaking out about her tales of sexpionage in a new podcast called “To Die For” from Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts. This podcast is the first time that an alleged Russian Federal Security Service trained seduction agent is sharing details about her training, techniques, targets, and missions. Roza explains that after over two decades of staying silent, she needed to break her silence for her own well-being and to speak up about her experiences.
Born into a Kazakh-Tatar family with a high-ranking military officer in the Soviet Union, Roza was involved in a special government program for children of high-ranking officers from a young age. Despite having dreams of pursuing fashion design, she was ultimately selected at the age of 18 to participate in a top-secret program that involved learning how to use seduction and persuasion to get information from enemy targets. Roza insists that the training was not just about sex, but also focused on communication, psychology, and understanding the perspective of men to achieve their objectives.
Roza recalls feeling patriotic and powerful as she worked as a seduction agent, believing that she was fighting against human and drug trafficking and saving lives. However, she later realized that she was being manipulated and emotionally detached herself from the abuse and trauma she experienced. With only a low salary and a sense of duty to her government, she describes her conflicting emotions of feeling like a hero for saving lives while also being a victim of sex trafficking herself. Roza emphasizes that her story is one of intense experiences, trauma, and PTSD.
In 2004, Roza fell in love with a man she was supposed to gather intelligence on, which led to her fleeing Moscow with his help. She eventually settled in Los Angeles, assuming a new name, and has not returned to Russia for over a decade. Despite her work to combat human and drug trafficking, Roza felt used and saw other female agents face loneliness and restrictions on their personal lives. Today, she teaches her seduction tips to women seeking to boost their self-esteem and has a large following on Instagram.
Roza expresses her disappointment in the Russia-Ukraine war started by Putin and hopes that sharing her story will encourage women to support each other and speak out against injustice. Neil Strauss, the creator of the podcast, hopes that Roza’s story will inspire other former female spies to come forward and shed light on the abuse and exploitation within the Russian intelligence community. He emphasizes that using sex and love as weapons of war ultimately brings harm to all involved, without any winners in such situations.He also notes that many are fearful of speaking out and that more needs to be done to address the lack of rights, agency, and abuse faced by women in the Russian military intelligence community.
