Mysteries under Moscow

There is another world under Moscow, according to this report from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: criminal settlements, mysterious labyrinths and possibly terrorist groups.

The Diggers' concern has been heightened by sightings of groups of people dressed in camouflage uniforms. In a tunnel under the Centrobank building, the Diggers observed uniformed people in masks equipped with powerful halogen lamps. The Diggers were afraid to follow them lest they should come under fire. So far, security services have not taken the Diggers' reports of these sightings seriously.

Only once have the police responded to a report by Mikhailov. Under the Leningradsky Prospekt the Diggers noticed a detachment of uniformed men at work in a tunnel. The police sent two officers with machine guns to arrest the group, but all of them escaped. Upon investigating the site, the police found evidence of fresh digging. "Who these camouflaged people are," Mikhailov says, "I don't know. Evidently, neither do officials. As far as I know, we are the only researchers working under the city. But if another group or organization is also investigating the underground, who is it? It is neither a military nor a police force. All the state security services say they do not go down."

How serious is the threat of terrorism from below? The Diggers have written a memorandum detailing dozens of entries to closed facilities like bomb shelters and strategic command posts, together with possible combinations of terrorist actions. When the memorandum was submitted to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Moscow--the former KGB--the security bodies agreed to cooperate with the Diggers.