A US official told AFP that Rice had "good discussions" with Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and the head of Russia's security council Sergei Rushailo.

But in what appeared as a diplomatic snub, Rice did not meet Russian President Vladimir Putin even though she was admitted into the Kremlin.

US officials later said that a Rice-Putin meeting had never been on the agenda. Putin was in the Kremlin and holding meetings with Russian government officials throughout Monday afternoon.

In a further sign of Moscow's irritation, Russian officials told AFP that all Rice's meetings had been requested by the US side and that Russian ministers had no original plans to meet with her.

"We had good discussions" with the Russian defense minister Ivanov, a US official said following the talks, without going into further details.

But a Russian defense ministry official stressed that "this meeting was held at the initiative of the Americans. It was not scheduled by us."

US officials admitted that the visible strain in relations between Moscow and Washington has widened since the Russian convoy came under attack in Iraq on Sunday.

"We are committed to our longer strategic partnership with Russia," one US official said following talks between Rice and the Russian foreign minister Ivanov.

"I admit that there are differences over Iraq that have strained our relations," said the US official. "But we are hoping our relationship moves forward."

Russian foreign ministry officials refused to specify whether they thought the diplomats' and journalists' envoy was attacked by US rather than Iraqi troops.

"We have not received any official explanation from the either the Iraqis or the Americans," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.

The Rice meetings come at a tense time for US-Russia relations, which have been strained by the Iraqi war which Moscow has furiously opposed.

However, in recent days Putin had taken steps to mend ties with Washington.

There had been a skeleton staff of 26 Russian diplomats in Baghdad which was being reduced to 12 in the face of the US push into the city when the convoy came under attack.

A Russian emergencies ministry plane flew out to Syria on Monday morning to pick up the staff.

Rice was due to travel on to meet up with US President George W. Bush in Northern Ireland on Monday or Tuesday.

Russian foreign ministry officials said five Russian diplomatic staff were wounded when a car convoy evacuating the Russian ambassador to Iraq from Baghdad to Syria came under fire.

A Russian journalist traveling with the group -- state-owned television Rossia's correspondent Alexander Minakov -- said US forces initiated the shooting.

The reporter said that ambassador Vladimir Titorenko had narrowly escaped a bullet through the windscreen.

But US Central Command in Qatar said Iraqi forces controlled the area and "initial reports" indicated there were no US or British troops nearby.

In Washington, General Peter Pace, deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon was investigating.

"There was no reporting by any ground unit of the coalition of any kind of contact" with the motorcade, he said.

Nine of the Russian diplomats belonging to the convoy early Monday left the town of Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad, where they had spent the night following the attack, and were headed for the Syrian border, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Saltanov said in Moscow.

The four other injured diplomats were among the group heading for Syria, he added.

Saltanov said the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident were still unclear.

SPACE.WIRE