The US ambassador to Moscow said yesterday that Washington was aware of links between Russia's secret police and Saddam Hussein's feared Iraqi intelligence services, and was investigating how deep their co-operation ran.
Mr Alexander Vershbow's comments followed press reports that looting in Baghdad had uncovered documents showing that the Iraqi security services had received intelligence information and training from Russia, in revelations that may hamper Moscow's efforts to repair relations with the US and Britain.
"We knew that there were contacts between the Iraqi and Russian intelligence services. But it is too early to make evaluations. We need more facts," Mr Vershbow told one newspaper.
The press reports emerged last weekend as Moscow sought to mend its crucial relationship with Washington, which took a battering from discord over Iraq and US accusations that Russian firms had sold high-tech military hardware to Baghdad.
"We are still worried by this serious problem", Mr Vershbow said of the alleged arms deals, "but we're satisfied that this question is getting plenty of attention at the highest level in Moscow. It is too early to talk about consequences, the facts are being cleared up." Before war began, Mr Vershbow warned Moscow that opposition to US plans in the Gulf could have diplomatic and economic "consequences" for Russia, and relations deteriorated as war raged.
Moscow protested to Washington that US bombs were landing near the Russian embassy in Baghdad, and reportedly complained that Mr Vershbow had made "veiled threats" against embassy staff, by saying that it was becoming increasingly dangerous for them to stay in Iraq.
Upon finally leaving Baghdad, five people were injured when their diplomatic convoy was hit by what Russia's envoy in Iraq said was US gunfire.
Mr Vershbow denied it had been targeted, but suggested the Russian diplomats had stayed too long in Baghdad dealing with the embassy's secret files.
"We can only regret that most of the Russian employees didn't leave earlier," he said. "It's possible that they stayed to defend the building and contents. In such circumstances any embassy would try to destroy 'sensitive' material. But we learned from our experience in Tehran, and now we don't keep many documents for too long."
In the 1997 Iranian revolution, students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and seized thousands of classified documents detailing covert US operations in Iran. To Washington's embarrassment, many were subsequently published.