He pointed out that Russian ambassador Vladimir Titorenko had returned to Baghdad after evacuating it on Saturday, following a visit to Moscow by US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

"Saddam Hussein could have found refuge in the Russian embassy in Baghdad," Berri told journalists, giving no further backing for his statement.

Titorenko, who had arrived in Damascus Monday claiming that US forces had fired on his diplomatic convoy as it left Baghdad, returned to the Iraqi capital on Tuesday to bring out an embassy driver wounded in the incident and a diplomat who stayed to look after the hospitalised victim.

The ambassador and his two charges were met by Damascus embassy staff after they crossed back into Syria early Wednesday, unidentified diplomatic sources in Moscow told Russian news agencies.

SPACE.WIRE