MOSCOW, July 5 (UPI) -- Russian police raided the basement of the prestigious Academy of Sciences Friday in what they said was a search for illegal immigrants.
Police said the place was deserted but they found evidence of "makeshift structures" made from cardboard boxes and 73 sleeping places, RIA Novosti reported.
The early morning raid was delayed for several hours as police sought help from the emergencies ministry to gain access to the area.
Academy officials are fighting government-proposed reforms that would hand control of its assets to a new state agency and merge it with state agricultural and medical institutions.
A deputy speaker for Russia's lower house of parliament claimed Wednesday more than half the academy's real estate was not properly registered and "elite" housing had been built on academy property.
The governing board of the academy, which was established in 1724, said this week the reforms would allow bureaucrats with no academic experience to run the institution. The academy claims the reforms would allow its assets to be seized.
