The files of the Department of State reflect the fact that Oswald first applied for permission to remain in Russia permanently, or at least for a long period, when he arrived in Moscow, and that he obtained permission to remain within one or two months.
A. Is the fact that he obtained permission to stay within this period of time usual?
Answer—Our information indicates that a two months waiting period is not unusual. In the case of [name withheld] the Supreme Soviet decided within two months to give Soviet citizenship and he was thereafter, of course, permitted to stay.
B. Can you tell us what the normal procedures are under similar circumstances?
Answer—It is impossible for us to state any “normal” procedures. The Soviet Government never publicizes the proceedings in these cases or the reasons for its action. Furthermore, it is, of course, extremely unusual for an American citizen to defect.[C6-195]
The information relating to Oswald’s suicide attempt indicates that his application to remain in the Soviet Union was probably rejected about 6 days after his arrival in Moscow. Since the KGB is the Soviet agency responsible for the initial handling of all defectors,[C6-196] it seems likely that the original decision not to accept Oswald was made by the KGB. That Oswald was permitted to remain in Moscow after his release from the hospital suggests that another ministry of the Soviet Government may have intervened on his behalf. This hypothesis is consistent with entries in the “Historic Diary” commenting that the officials Oswald met after his hospital treatment were different from those with whom he had dealt before.[C6-197] The most plausible reason for any such intervention may well have been apprehension over the publicity that would follow the rejection of a devout convert to the Communist cause.
Oswald’s Life in Minsk.—According to the “Historic Diary”[C6-198] and documents received from the Soviet Government,[C6-199] Oswald resided in the city of Minsk from January 1960 until June 1962. Oswald’s life in Minsk is the portion of his life concerning which the least is known. The primary sources of information are Oswald’s own writings and the testimony of Marina Oswald. Other evidence, however, establishes beyond doubt that Oswald was in fact located in Minsk on at least two occasions. The Commission has obtained two photographs which were taken by American tourists in Minsk in August 1961 in which Oswald appears.[C6-200] The tourists did not know Oswald, nor did they speak with him; they remembered only that several men gathered near their car.[C6-201] (See Kramer Exhibit 1, [p. 268].) In addition, Oswald was noticed in Minsk by a student who was traveling with the University of Michigan band on a tour of Russia in the spring of 1961.[C6-202] Oswald corresponded with the American Embassy in Moscow from Minsk,[C6-203] and wrote letters from Minsk to his family in the United States.[C6-204] Oswald and his wife have many photographs taken of themselves which show Minsk backgrounds and persons who are identifiable as residents of Minsk.[C6-205] After he returned to the United States, Oswald conversed about the city with Russian-born American citizens who were familiar with it.[C6-206] Marina Oswald is also familiar with the city.[C6-207] The Commission has also been able independently to verify the existence in Minsk of many of the acquaintances of Oswald and his wife whom they said they knew there.[C6-208] (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 1392, 1395, 2606, 2609, 2612 and 2623, [pp. 270-271].)
OSWALD, MAN STANDING ON RIGHT IN FIGURED SHIRT.
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN MINSK, U.S.S.R. BY AN AMERICAN TOURIST IN AUGUST, 1961.
(KRAMER DEPOSITION 1)
Once he was accepted as a resident alien in the Soviet Union, Oswald was given considerable benefits which ordinary Soviet citizens in his position in society did not have. The “Historic Diary” recites that after Oswald was informed that he could remain in the Soviet Union and was being sent to Minsk he was given 5,000 rubles[C] ($500) by the “Red Cross, * * * for expenses.” He used 2,200 rubles to pay his hotel bill, and another 150 rubles to purchase a train ticket. With the balance of slightly over 2,500 rubles, Oswald felt, according to the diary, like a rich man.[C6-209] Oswald did not receive free living quarters, as the diary indicates the “Mayor” of Minsk promised him,[C6-210] but about 6 weeks after his arrival he did receive an apartment, very pleasant by Soviet standards, for which he was required to pay only 60 rubles ($6.00) a month. Oswald considered the apartment “almost rent free.”[C6-211] Oswald was given a job in the “Byelorussian Radio and Television Factory,” where his pay on a per piece basis ranged from 700 to 900 rubles ($70-$90) a month.[C6-212] According to his wife, this rate of pay was average for people in his occupation but good by Soviet standards generally.[C6-213] She explained that piecework rates throughout the Soviet Union have generally grown out of line with compensation for other jobs.[C6-214] The CIA has confirmed that this condition exists in many areas and occupations in the Soviet Union.[C6-215] In addition to his salary, Oswald regularly received 700 rubles ($70) per month from the Soviet “Red Cross.”[C6-216] The well-paying job, the monthly subsidy, and the “almost rent-free” apartment combined to give Oswald more money than he needed. The only complaint recorded in the “Historic Diary” is that there was “no place to spend the money.”[C6-217]
[C] About a year after Oswald received this money, the ruble was revalued to about 10 times its earlier value.
The Commission has found no basis for associating Oswald’s preferred income with Soviet undercover activity. Marina Oswald testified that foreign nationals are commonly given special treatment in the Soviet Union,[C6-218] and the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that it is standard practice in the Soviet Union for Americans and other foreign defectors from countries with high standards of living to be “subsidized.”[C6-219] Apparently it is Soviet practice to attempt to make life sufficiently pleasant for a foreign defector so that he will not become disillusioned and return to his native country. The Commission has also assumed that it is customary for Soviet intelligence agencies to keep defectors under surveillance during their residence in the Soviet Union, through periodic interviews of neighbors and associates of the defector.[C6-220] Oswald once mentioned that the Soviet police questioned his neighbors occasionally.[C6-221]