State Papers – 1977: Soviets refuse to help trace IRA rocket launchers

THE British Foreign Office found the Soviets reluctant to help trace the source of IRA rocket launchers with Russian markings.

The rocket launchers were seized in the North in late 1972, a dark year which earlier included Bloody Sunday in Derry and the burning of the British embassy in Dublin.

The embassy sent a briefing on the rocket seizures to the Department of External Affairs (Foreign Affairs).