WASHINGTON RESIDENTS JOIN IN SEARCH FOR "TUNNEL" UNDER RUSSIAN EMBASSY








WASHINGTON D.C., March 11 /from RIA Novosti's Arkady Orlov/ - The many articles in American media about a secret tunnel dug under the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. for eavesdropping purposes have encouraged local residents into joining in a vigorous search for the tunnel, The Washington Post said Sunday, after conducting a survey among Americans living in the vicinity of the Russian embassy.


	"I want to know what is happening here," the paper quoted association president Michael Hyman as saying.


	The Washington Post has ascertained that some of the locals are inspecting their basements for possible street outlets, and have already found out at least two totally unoccupied buildings opposite the main entrance to the embassy and in one of the neighbouring streets, the likeliest places from where US secret services could be snooping on Russian diplomats. 


	Washington residents have cited many instances of spotting, through the windows of these two uninhabited buildings, photo cameras, people holding some special appliances, and other signs of activity, while the owners of the suspicious apartment blocks have failed to be found on record by population census service staff. 


	City inhabitants living next to the Russian embassy emphasise they consider it to be a good neighbourhood and that they feel secure thanks to the ever-present embassy guards.


	No tunnel has been found so far. Normann Birnbaum, one of the district residents, emphasised in a Washington Post interview that if it does exist, why don't US authorities use it as a new subway line? "Russians could also help us since Moscow's underground is a very good example," Birnbaum suggested.