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History: 1973 State Papers 2 January 2004 London told not to raise IRA arms issue with Soviets —by Bernard Purcell, Irish Independent IRELAND refused to allow the British government to raise the sale of Russian weapons to the IRA with Moscow's ambassador despite secretly briefing London that Soviet-made weapons had been found on the seized gun-running vessel, the 'Claudia' in 1973.  Top-secret British government papers released by the UK's National Archive at Kew, West London reveal the supply of Russian weapons to the IRA came at the same time as attempts to improve diplomatic relations between the Kremlin and Whitehall.  Former Foreign Office Deputy Undersecretary, Sir Thomas Brimelow, wrote: "The Russians no doubt hope we shall be inhibited from making any further representations to them about Soviet arms and the IRA."  Any attempt to raise it was met with the accusations that "the British press were seeking to obstruct normalisation of Anglo-Soviet relations by giving prominence to this story", wrote Sir Thomas.  "We decided that it would be a mistake to allow the Russians to get the impression that these considerations had prevented us from speaking to them about the Claudia. Failure to do so might encourage the KGB to dabble more actively in Northern Ireland. . . . We therefore asked the Irish if they could agree to our approaching the Russians on their behalf, in view of our own lack of locus standi. The Irish have decided at a high level that they would prefer both countries to act independently. The Prime Minister has now said he thinks we should follow Irish wishes. But he also believes we should not allow the Claudia incident to pass without approaching the Russians," he continued.  Arrangements were made by a GGH Walden of the Eastern European and Soviet Department for a government official to talk informally to his Soviet opposite number, a Mr Semenov, at a Soviet Embassy reception for the then departing Soviet ambassador on April 18, 1973. He was to advise the Soviets that both American and UK weapons appeared to have found their way on to the Claudia as well as Soviet-made rifles, ammunition and anti-tank mines.  Meanwhile, repeated attempts were made to obtain a photograph of the weapons cases seized from the Claudia. The British embassy in Tripoli asked the FCO Near East and North Africa Department for a "better copy" of it from the Irish Independent, showing the word Tripoli on one of the cases.  "I am afraid the photograph we already have would not impress the Libyans." The photographs were eventually obtained by Defence Minister Paddy Donegan and sent to the British ambassador by Army despatch rider. Page updated 7 Sep 2008 Ireland's OWN Logo by Eamann Website Design and Celtic Background by Míchealín Daugherty Copyright © 2008 Ireland's OWN All Rights Reserved.