Defection and admission to residence.—Two months and 22 days elapsed from Oswald’s arrival in Moscow until he left that city to take up residence in Minsk. The Commission has considered the possibility that Oswald was accepted for residence in the Soviet Union and sent to Minsk unusually soon after he arrived, either because he had been expected or because during his first weeks in Moscow he developed an undercover relationship with the Soviet Government. In doing so, the Commission has attempted to reconstruct the events of those months, though it is, of course, impossible to account for Oswald’s activities on every day of that period.
Oswald’s “Historic Diary,”[C6-130] which commences on October 16, 1959, the date Oswald arrived in Moscow, and other writings he later prepared,[C6-131] have provided the Commission with one source of information about Oswald’s activities throughout his stay in the Soviet Union. Even assuming the diary was intended to be a truthful record, it is not an accurate guide to the details of Oswald’s activities. Oswald seems not to have been concerned about the accuracy of dates and names,[C6-132] and apparently made many of his entries subsequent to the date the events occurred. Marina Oswald testified that she believed that her husband did not begin to keep the diary until he reached Minsk, 3 months after his arrival in Russia,[C6-133] and scraps of paper found in Oswald’s possession, containing much the same information as appears in his diary,[C6-134] suggest that he transcribed the entries into the diary at a later time. The substance of Oswald’s writings has been carefully examined for consistency with all other related information available to the Commission. In addition, the writings have been checked for handwriting,[C6-135] and for consistency of style, grammar, and spelling with earlier and later writings which are known to be his.[C6-136] No indication has been found that entries were written or coached by other persons.[C6-137]
However, the most reliable information concerning the period Oswald spent in Moscow in the latter part of 1962 comes from the records of the American Embassy in Moscow,[C6-138] the testimony of Embassy officials,[C6-139] and the notes of two American newspaper reporters, Aline Mosby [C6-140] and Priscilla Johnson,[C6-141] who interviewed Oswald during this period. Oswald’s correspondence with his brother and mother has also been relied upon for some relatively minor information. The findings upon which the Commission based its conclusion concerning Soviet involvements in the assassination were supported by evidence other than material provided by the Soviet Union[C6-142] or Oswald’s writings. The Central Intelligence Agency has also contributed data on the normal practices and procedures of the Soviet authorities in handling American defectors.
The “Historic Diary” indicates that on October 16, 1959, the day Oswald arrived in Moscow, he told his Intourist guide, Rima Shirokova, that he wished to renounce his American citizenship and become a Soviet citizen. The same day, the guide reportedly helped Oswald prepare a letter to the Soviet authorities requesting citizenship.[C6-143] The diary indicates, however, that on October 21 he was informed that his visa had expired and that he would be required to leave Moscow within 2 hours.[C6-144] During the preceding days, according to the diary, he had been interviewed once and perhaps twice by Soviet officials.[C6-145] During this period the KGB,[B] the agency with primary responsibility for examining defectors arriving in Russia, undoubtedly investigated Oswald as fully as possible. In 1959, virtually all Intourist guides were KGB informants, and there is no reason to believe that this was not true of Oswald’s guide.[C6-146]
[B] The Committee for State Security, best known by its Russian initials, “KGB,” is a lineal descendant of the revolutionary ChEKA and has passed through numerous changes of name since 1917 with little change of function. Presently the KGB handles all Soviet counterintelligence operations and is the instrument for various types of subversive activities. It is responsible for the internal security of the Soviet state and the safety of its leaders. In addition it shares responsibility for foreign espionage activities with the intelligence component of the Ministry of Defense, the “GRU.” The KGB would have the primary responsibility for keeping track of a defector such as Oswald.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs or “MVD” was for many years the designation of the organization responsible for civil law enforcement and administration of prisons and forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. During a part of its history it also directed vast economic combines. In January 1960, the central or all-union MVD was abolished and its powers transferred to the MVD’s of the several Soviet republics. A further change took place in the summer of 1962, when the republic MVD’s were renamed Ministries for the Preservation of Public Order and Safety. In the past few years the republic MVD’s have been gradually divesting themselves of their economic functions. When Lee Harvey Oswald was in the Soviet Union though, the MVD still carried on substantial economic activities. For example, inmates of the MVD-administered “corrective labor colonies” engaged in brickmaking, heavy construction work, and lumbering.
In the Commission’s report, the term KGB will be used, as above, to describe the principal Soviet counterintelligence and espionage service. Oswald often inaccurately referred to the “secret police” as the MVD; and in any quotations from him, the Commission will reproduce his actual words. Whenever the Commission refers to the MVD, it will be referring to it as defined in this footnote.
According to Oswald’s diary he attempted suicide when he learned his application for citizenship had been denied.[C6-147] If true, this would seem to provide strong evidence that, at least prior to October 21, there was no undercover relationship between Oswald and the Soviet Government. Though not necessarily conclusive, there is considerable direct evidence which indicates that Oswald did slash his wrist. Oswald’s autopsy showed that he had a scar on his left wrist and that it was of the kind which could have been caused by a suicide attempt.[C6-148] The medical records from the Botkinskaya Hospital in Moscow, furnished by the Soviet Government, reveal that from October 21 to October 28 he was treated there for a self-inflicted wound on the left wrist.[C6-149] The information contained in these records is consistent with the facts disclosed by the autopsy examination relating to Oswald’s wrist and to other facts known about Oswald. Although no witness recalled Oswald mentioning a suicide attempt,[C6-150] Marina Oswald testified that when she questioned her husband about the scar on his wrist, he became “very angry,” and avoided giving her a reply.[C6-151] Oswald’s character, discussed in the following chapter, does not seem inconsistent with a suicide or feigned suicide attempt, nor with his having failed to disclose the suicide attempt. Many witnesses who testified before the Commission observed that he was not an “open” or trusting person, had a tendency toward arrogance, and was not the kind of man who would readily admit weaknesses.[C6-152]
Oswald appeared at the American Embassy in Moscow on October 31, 1959, 3 days after his release from the Botkinskaya Hospital.[C6-153] He did not give the officials at the Embassy any indication that he had recently received medical treatment.[C6-154] Oswald’s appearance was the first notification to the American Government that he was in Russia, since he had failed to inform the Embassy upon his arrival,[C6-155] as most American tourists did at the time.[C6-156] In appendix XV, Oswald’s dealings with the Embassy in 1959 until his return to the United States in 1962 are described in full, and all action taken by the American officials on his case is evaluated. His conduct at the Embassy has also been considered by the Commission for any indication it may provide as to whether or not Oswald was then acting under directions of the Soviet Government.
