20000A
104-10326-10013
2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992
MHFNO: 98-0748996
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ACTION: CE/WUMB (276) INFO: CE/LGL, CEDORECORD, DC/CE, DCCE/OPS, LIMITED.
MDSX, ODPD, ORMS/CE, PCS/CAB, FILE, C/PCS, CE/W, CED/CIC (4/W)
98 0748996
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PAGE 001
TOR: 061335Z MAR 98
061332Z MAR 98 STAFF
CITE MINSK 17622
TO:
DIRECTOR.
IN 0748996
MNSK 17622
FOR:
DC/CE,
LIMIT DISSEM CE/WUMB INFO CE/W, CED/CIC, PCS/CAB, DCCE/OPS,
CE/LGL
SLUGS: WNINTEL JYVAPOROUS
*SUBJECT: BKGB ACCESS SUPPORT TO USG<ASSASSINATION>RECORD REVIEW
BOARD
REF: NONE.
TEXT:
1. ACTION REQUIRED: PLEASE SEE BELOW; TRACES ON SUBJS IN PARA
5; GUIDANCE ON ARRB-BKGB ACCESS REQUEST.
2.
ON MORNING 6 MAR 98 POLECON_OFFICER AND DCM MET WITH COS TO
ALERT HIM TO POSSIBLE NEED FOR STATION SUPPORT TO FACILITATE FUTURE
MEETING (S) WITH BKGB BY EMBASSY OR OTHER USG PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN
*FOLLOWUP INQUERIES ON BEHALF OF USG'S<ASSASSINATION>RECORD REVIEW
BOARD (ARRB). ARRB IS CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED AND FUNDED BODY
* LOOKING AT ALL DOCUMENTS RELATED TO<ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT<JOHN >
*F.<KENNEDY. > OF INTEREST IN MINSK ARE RECORDS HELD BY THE BKGB
*RELATED TO<LEE HARVEY OSWALD>AND THE TIME HE SPENT HERE. ARRB
APPARENTLY WANTS COPIES OF ALL THESE BKGB RECORDS TO MAKE THEM
AVAILABLE FOR SCHOLARLY REVIEW AND RESEARCH PURPOSES.
3. PER POLECON OFFICER, THE ARRB CHAIRMAN (A RESPECTED RETIRED
FEDERAL JUDGE.)_HAD REPORTEDLY MADE INQUERIES HERE IN OCTOBER 1996, AT
WHICH TIME STATION HAD, WITH HQS CONCURRENCE, FACILITATED BKGB
MEETINGS (BUT STATION WAS APPARENTLY DIRECTED BY HQS TO AVOID ALL
OTHER INVOLVEMENT) . BKGB TOOK REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTS
UNDER REVIEW, BUT NO DOCUMENTS WERE EVER PROVIDED. WHEN PRESSED,
BKGB SAID THEY WOULD ANSWER SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, BUT THEIR "PRIVACY
LAWS" WOULD NOT LET THEM RELEASE RECORDS WHICH RELATE TO LIVING
BELARUSSIANS (PER POLECON, THIS SPEFICALLY INCLUDED OSWALD'S FORMER
WIFE, MARINA) ARRB PRESENTED LENGTHY LIST OF DETAILED, LEGALISTIC,
AND (WHAT POLECON OFFICER, HERSELF A LAWYER, DESCRIBED AS) ONEROUS
QUERIES. BKGB NEVER RESPONDED.
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4. EMBASSY UNDERSTOOD THAT LEGISLATIVE MANDATE FOR ARRB HAD
EXPIRED IN FALL 1997, SO DID NOT FOLLOWUP FURTHER. HOWEVER, MANDATE
WAS APPARENTLY EXTENDED TO FALL 1998, AND ARRB'S INTEREST IN BKGB
INFORMATION HAS BEEN REACTIVATED. ARRB TEAM MAY WISH TO COME TO
MINSK TO TRY AGAIN TO OBTAIN THESE RECORDS FROM BKGB, OR AT LEAST GET
EMBASSY TO REVITALIZE EFFORTS TO DO SO.
5. FOR THE RECORD (AND HQS TRACES), AT THE TIME OF THE ARRB'S
OCT 1996 MEETINGS WITH BKGB, ARRB MET PRINCIPLY WITH THE FOLLOWING
BKGB OFFICIALS:
ALEKSANDR ((VERAS)), HEAD OF SECTION (NFI)
LEV ((PIMENAU)), HEAD OF SECTION (NFI)
ALEKSANDR ((ABLAMEIKA)), PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPT.
AT SOME POINT DURING MEETINGS THEY WERE JOINED BY:
GENNADIY ((NARKEVICH))
(PHONETIC), A DEPUTY
CHAIRMAN, BKGB. (THIS IS ALMOST CERTAINLY
IDEN.)
REQUEST HQS TRACES ON FOUR BKGB OFFICERS ABOVE.
6. COMPLICATING ALL THIS IS FACT THAT AT SOME POINT, AUTHOR
NORMAN MAILER (APPARENTLY WITH EMBASSY ACCESS ASSISTANCE) WAS GIVEN
ACCESS TO. (SOME/ALL? OF) THE BKGB'S OSWALD RECORDS, WHICH MAILER
REFERS TO EXTENSIVELY IN HIS BOOK "OSWALD´S TALE: AN AMERICAN
MYSTERY, " PUBLISHED IN 1995. AFTER THE FACT, PER POLECON OFFICER
BKGB REALIZED THAT MAILER MADE SUBSTANTIAL PROFITS FROM THIS BOOK,
AND THAT THE BKGB. HAD GOTTEN NOTHING FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO THEIR
RECORDS, THUS THEY REPORTEDLY FELT THEY HAD BEEN CHEATED.
7.
BALL IS NOW IN STATE'S COURT, BUT THEY AND EMBASSY EXPECT
THAT REQUEST WILL BE FORTHCOMING FROM ARRB IN NEAR FUTURE, AND THENCE
TO STATION TO FACILITATE MEETINGS WITH BKGB ON THIS MATTER. TO BE A
BIT AHEAD OF THE CURVE, REQUEST HQS GUIDANCE AND AUTHORIZATION AS
APPROPRIATE.
8. FILE: 227-002-001; 201-1482358. DECL ON: X1. CL REASON:
1.5 (C) CL BY: 0702653. DRV HUM 4-82.
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