MOSCOW: Saddam Hussein's secret archives could already be in Moscow despite American Central Intelligence Agency's bid to block their evacuation by firing at the Russian diplomatic convoy near Baghdad on Sunday, media reported on Wednesday.

Quoting intelligence sources Nezavisimaya Gazeta on Wednesday reported that Sunday's attack by the US rangers on the Russian ambassador's convoy near Baghdad was a 'direct clash between Russian's Foreign Intelligence Service SVR and CIA.

Moscow had asked the US for safe passage from Baghdad to Syria for its ambassador's convoy and a "Predator" drone was hovering over it all along the way from the embassy in Baghdad transmitting live video pictures, the daily said ruling out any case of mistaken identity by the US troops which fired at it.

"CIA was under the impression that SVR was evacuating Saddam's secret archives under the diplomatic cover of ambassador's convoy... this also explains why at several occasions after the firing the American troops had tried to search Russian vehicles," Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote.

It also noted that though the Iraqi escort vans were totally destroyed by the Americans along with their occupants, in case of the Russians they tried to put their vehicles out of order to prevent further movement.

"All the details we could learn only after fifty years in 2053, when SVR is expected to declassify its secret documents relating to the operation," Nezavisimaya Gazeta said.