#10 - JRL 7139 RosBusinessConsulting April 9, 2003 Diplomats attacked because of Hussein’s archives The Nezavisimaya Gazeta is offering its explanation as to why a convoy of Russian diplomats was attacked as they were leaving Baghdad on Sunday. According to the newspaper, Russian diplomats tried to the evacuate most valuable classified documents of Saddam Hussein and his secret agencies, and it is for this reason that they came under fire. According to the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russia’s intelligence services provided their explanations to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The President met with the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Lebedev. It was a closed-door meeting. Meanwhile, experts focused on several important aspects of the incident, the newspaper reports. First, the US command was informed in advance about the route of the Russian diplomatic convoy. Moreover, an unmanned American reconnaissance plane was monitoring the movements of the convoy. Secondly, after Moscow requested a corridor for the evacuation of the Russian diplomats to Syria, this issue was considered by the Central Intelligence Agency. CIA analysts assumed that Russian ambassador to Iraq Vladimir Titorenko might play the role of a live shield for evacuating Iraqi intelligence archives to Moscow. Thirdly, American troops tried to obstruct the further movement of the convoy and insisted on examining the content of their cargo. In view of this, Mr. Titorenko, upon his arrival in Syria, claimed that the Americans fired on the convoy deliberately. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry did not support these claims. In response, Phillip Ricker, a spokesman for the US Department of State, said that the US military command in Qatar was investigating the incident. He stressed that, if American forces had been involved in the shooting, in this or that way, they had had no intention of harming the personnel. It seems that both Moscow and Washington do not tell the entire truth. In fact, Sunday’s incident might mean a direct conflict of interest between Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, engaged in a very dangerous game. Allegedly, the Russians were trying to evacuate secret Iraqi archives, and the Americans were trying to prevent that. Interestingly, the first two escort cars, carrying Iraqis, were completely destroyed. As for the jeeps of the Russian embassy, US snipers did not target people, but their shots were aimed at damaging the cars. It is for this reason that none of the Russian diplomats was killed, it is said in the article. The ambassador’s driver, who received two bullets in the stomach, was the only staff member who sustained serious injuries. Others were unscathed or slightly hurt. The Americans seem to have calculated that the diplomats would not carry the cargo on them, and it would be possible to seize it. But Iraqis opened fire, and this ruined the plans of the Americans. On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow proposed a plan for the evacuation of the wounded driver and a Russian diplomat who accompanied him, from the Iraqi city of Fallujah, with the help of the Red Cross. He said the US command was ready to provide a safe corridor for that purpose. This can be seen as a goodwill gesture, but also as an indirect admission of fault by the Americans. As for the details of the incident, we will be able to learn them in some 50 years, after the Foreign Intelligence Service declassifies its materials for the year 2003.
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