MOSCOW, 7 April 2003 — A convoy of Russian diplomats including the ambassador to Iraq came under fire yesterday while evacuating from Baghdad, the Kremlin said. A Foreign Ministry official said initial indications were that four or five people were wounded but that their injuries were not life-threatening.
The US and Iraqi ambassadors were immediately called to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and US Central Command said it was investigating. Russia did not indicate whether it believed coalition or Iraqi forces were responsible.
The convoy was fired upon as it was moving toward the Syrian border, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russian officials had long ago evacuated most of the embassy’s staff, but a core team had remained until yesterday, including Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko, who was in the convoy.
The Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source in the convoy as saying the group was first fired on about 8 kilometers outside Baghdad after it tried to drive around shooting incident seen on the road ahead.
The convoy continued after the wounded were treated and stopped when it saw a column of jeeps about 15 kilometers from the city, the source said. The group stopped, sending ahead one car with a flag to explain who they were.
“They started to shoot at it (the car),” the source was quoted as saying. “Thank God no one was killed. Then the jeeps left.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in televised comments that preliminary indications were that four or five people were wounded and that their injuries were not life-threatening. The ministry said there were 23 people in the convoy, including several journalists.
The Foreign Ministry urgently called in the US and Iraqi ambassadors and asked them to take all measures necessary to guarantee Russian citizens’ safety in Iraq, to investigate the circumstances of the attack and punish those responsible.
Leaving the ministry, US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said his government was investigating and trying to gather information from allied commanders in the area, but did not know who fired on the Russians. “We are obviously very concerned about those who have been wounded,” he said.
Vershbow confirmed the United States had been aware of the planned evacuation in advance and said the US side would do its best to expedite the evacuation. “Iraqi forces are active and there are many military exchanges going on, but we will do as much as we can to facilitate their safe departure,” he said.
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Associated Press the convoy of nine or 10 vehicles had safely passed coalition ground troops before it was attacked “out in more open territory” west of Baghdad.
“Somewhere after they got out past our main forces they were attacked. We don’t know by whom or by how many,” Pace said.
In Doha, Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters at the US Central Command that the coalition was aware of the incident but had no information about coalition involvement. “We understand this convoy is still moving,” he said.
However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Malakhov later said the Russians had stopped for the night in the Iraqi city of Fallujah and would set out for Syria again tomorrow morning. Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian diplomat as saying the wounded were treated at a hospital in Fallujah, which it said was in Iraqi government control.
The alleged attack came four days after Russia protested American airstrikes that it said targeted a Baghdad neighborhood where the Russian Embassy is located.
It also came as US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice arrived in Moscow for discussions on deepening US-Russian cooperation.
Russia is squarely opposed to the US-led war, but Putin has adopted a softer tone toward the United States in recent days, saying a US defeat would not be in Russia’s interests and pledging continued cooperation with the United States on arms control, the fight against terrorism and other issues.
