"This report quoting a source in the Russian defence ministry is wrong and does not correspond to reality," an official spokesman for the defence ministry told the Interfax-AVN news agency.

The respected Kommersant business daily had said earlier on Tuesday, quoting an unidentified defence ministry official, that US Secretary of State Colin Powell had repeatedly demanded that the Russian embassy staff leave Baghdad.

Washington suspected that an electronic jamming device was located on the embassy grounds that was interfering with the US military's global positioning system to deflect US precision weapons, Kommersant said.

Five Russian diplomats, including the ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko, were injured when their vehicle convoy came under gunfire as it left Baghdad Sunday.

Titorenko has accused US forces of deliberately targetting the vehicles.

According to eyewitness accounts, the convoy was caught in crossfire between US and Iraqi soldiers, although it was not clear which side shot first.

SPACE.WIRE