AWA A rh REACTION OF SOVIET AND COMMUNIST PARTY GFFICIALS TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F, KENNEDY According to our source, Soviet officials claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald had no connection whatsoever with the Soviet Union, They described him as a neurotic maniac who was disloyal to his own country and everything else. They noted that Oswald never.belonged to any organization in the Soviet Union and was never given Soviet citizenship. - A second source who has furnished reliable infor- mation in the past advised on November 27,.1963, that Nikolai T. Fedorenko, the Permanent Representative to the Soviet Mission to the United Nations, held a brief meeting with all diplomatic personnel employed at the Soviet Mission on November. 23, 1963. During this meeting, Fedorenko related for the benefit of all present the news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and stated that Kennedy's death _Wwas very much regretted by the Soviet Union and had caused .considerable shock in Soviet Government circles. Fedorenko _ Stated that the Soviet Union would have preferred to have had President kennedy at the helm of the American Government. He added that President Kennedy had, to some degree, a "mutual understanding with the Soviet Union, and had tried seriously to improve relations between the United States and Russia. Fedorenko also added that little or nothing was known by the Soviet Government concerning President 1: .idon Johnson and, as a result, the Soviet Government did not know What policies President Johnson would follow-in the future regarding the Soviet Union. “a GIWaIS AHL WOWd AaODOLOHa According to our source, Colonel Boris Ivanov, Chiet of the Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) _ “Residency in New York City, held a meeting of KGB personnel on the morning of November 25, 1963. Ivanov informed those prese:.t that President Kennedy! s death had posed a problem for the KGB and stated that it was necessary for all KGB employees to lend their efforts to solving the problem. ~kavddrt quoa” According to our source, Ivanov stated that it was his personal feeling that the assassination of President - Kennedy had been planned by an organized group rather than being the act of one individual assassin. . Ivanov stated that it was therefore necessary that the KGB ascertain with the greatest possible speed the true story surrounding President Kennedy's assassination. Ivanov stated that the KGB was interested in knowing all the factors and all of ge the possible groups which might have worked behind the scenes ory to organize and plan this assassination. TOP SECRET ~ 2 ~~ fo Came et em oe pew Oe eke BIee wee. eine : \ Jchow af a x - HW 54653 Docld:32204484 Page 4
AWE ba REACTION OF SOVIET AND CO\RIUNIST _ PARTY OFFICIALS TO TIE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY Our source added that Ivanov also emphasized that it was of extreme importance to the Soviet Government to © determine precisely what kind of a man the new President , Lyndon Johnson would be. Ivanov said that President Johnson -was practically an unknown to the Soviet Government and, accordingly, the KGB had issued instructions to all of its . agents to immediately obtain all data available concerning © the incumbent President. Ivanov said that it would be necessary for KGB personnel to gather and correlate all information concerning President Johnson, including his background, his past working experience and record in Congress, his present attitude toward the Soviet Union, and particularly all information which might have bearing upon. the future foreign policy line he would follow. , . On September 16, 1965,.this same source reported that the KGB Residency in New York City received instructions - approximately September 16, 1965, from KGB headquarters in _ Moscow to develop all possible information concerning . .. President Lyndon B. Johnson's.character, background, personal friends, family, and from which quarters he derives his Support in his position as President of the United States. Our source added that in the instructions from Moscow, it was indicated that "now" the KGB was in possession of data purporting to indicate President Johnson was responsible for the assassination of the late President John IF. Kennedy. KGB headquarters indicated that in view of this information, it was necessary for the Soviet Government to know the existing personal relationship between President Johnson and the Kennedy family, particularly that between President Johnson and Robert and ''Ted" Kennedy. a GTWaHS AHL WOdd AdODOLOHa AUVdaIT Giog On March 3, 1964, Yuri I. Nosenko, Soviet defector whose bona fides has not been established, advised that he was handling Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) investigations of tourists from the United States at the- time Lee Harvey Oswald visited Russia in 1959, and conse- quently was fully cognizant of the Lee Harvey "Oswald Case. According “to Nosenko, Oswald came to the attention of the KGB when he expressed a wish to defect to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shortly after his arrival in Russian, However, the KGB, after inquiry, decided he was mentally unstable and informed him he had to return to the ~— gs United States upon completion of his visit. Thereafter, © 7 When Oswald missed a sight-seeing tour he was to take, his hotel room was forced open and he was found with one Of his Wrists badly cut, POP. SECRET TR -~3- meter me mennee souie } ” i ft nov HW 54653 Docld:322704434 Page 5
"REACTION. OF SOVIET AND COMMUNIST PARTY OFFICIALS TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOUN F. KENNEDY Nosenko added that Oswald was hospitalized and thereafter was allowed to remain in Russia, apparently through the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Red Cross. Oswald again came to the attention of the KGB when he attempted to re-enter the Soviet Union by placing a request with the Soviet Embassy in Mexico, after his return to the United States. Nosenko stated that the KGB recommended against allowing Oswald to re-enter the Soviet Union. Accord- ing to Nosenko, Oswald's. case was a routine one in which the KGB had no interest until he assassinated President Kennedy. He was not approached or recruited for espionage by the KGB nor was his wife, Marina. Nosenko said Marina was regarded as a woman who possessed little intelligence and he added that she had once been a member of the Communist Party but - had been dropped for failure over a long period of time to pay. her dues. “{t was the opinion of Nosenko that President “Kennedy was held in high esteem by the Soviet’ Government.. ARUP TE at recmecrec rns ce ronment teres eee meen et ence eton stent ener ant tt TENE A I EH AO te a CN tN HW 54653 and that President Kennedy had been evaluated by the Soviet | Government as a person interested in maintaining peace. According to Nosenko, following the assassination, Soviet guards were removed from around the American Embassy in Moscow and the Soviet people were permitted without inter~ ference to visit the American Embassy to express their condolences. Nosenko.added that the KGB provided approxi- mately 20 men who spoke the English language to handle duties in the immediate vicinity of the American Embassy in Moscow -at that time to insure that no disrespect was shown. during this period. Following the assassination of President Kennedy, Anatoli Dobrynin, Soviet Ambassador to the United States, turned over to the Secretary of State a file alleged to be the complete consular file on Lee H. and Marina Oswald maintained in the Soviet Embassy, Washington, D. C, Subsequently, the Soviet Government made available to the United States Government the hospitalization record of Lee Harvey Oswald during his hospitalization in the Soviet Union. This record corroborated data previously received indicating Oswald had attempted to commit suicide in the Soviet Union. Reaction of Communist Party officials to the assassination of President Kennedy and to the investigation TOP SECRET ~ 4a Ce DoclIda: 3227044684 Page 6-— Re rns ner ae, RR A Rr ne fen AUVdGIT Guod “YU GIwaqD AHL WONT AdODOLOHd 22 ee st . —~—— ° V fe ener temy fae OF ee ree an swine rrr cera ; hoe Et ae neces
HW 54653 ‘PARTY: OFFICIALS TO THE ASSASSINATION | eS y ' which clearly indicated it could have been done by no one . contact “Sovie t officials to determine if they planned to interview Marina Oswald and, if so, he planned to ask the ' Soviets to question Marina whether Lee Harvey Oswald had — _ relaticns or contacts with Jack Ruby. _are too lax in allowing "all kinds of persons to go to ~ Investigation. Hall further stated that: Oswald "could have ‘October, ll, 1964, issue of "The Worker," an East Coast *the material that ceme before it indicating that a AVR Mdiswilid * REACTION OF SOVIET AND COMMUNIST t . a AYVAGIT. CHOd. .“UCTWD. AHL-- WOU KdO90EOHE-—-—-—- ——-_-_-—— OF PRESIDENT JOIN F. KENNEDY conducted by the Warren Commission concerning such assassi- nation closely follows the Soviet party line. On December 4, 1963, Gus Hall, General Secretary, Communist Party, USA, informed one of our’ sources who has furnished reliable infor- mation in.the past that the assassination followed a pattern other than the “ultraright" and that Hall feels that Oswald was killed by the “ultraright" in order to prevent him from talking Had indicated to our source that he planned to any connections with the "ultraright," had any relations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or had any Hall also told our source that he ‘felt the Soviets Moscow.'' Hall expressed his opinion that at the time Oswald went to Moscow, he was operating for the Federal Bureau of been a nut, too." The position of the Communist Party, USA, toward the Warren Commission Report was clearly set forth. in the communist newspaper. In an article captioned "Warren Report Brushes Off Ultra-Rightist Conspiracy," it was stated that the Warren Report gives comparatively very little space to. "Right-wing conspiracy" was in the making and that Oswald was a “"Left-painted" undercover instrument of such forces or of a Government agency. The article further, stated that even the limited material which the Warren Commission has put into the record on the Rightist conspiracy that was in progress is an inportant contribution and provides a basis for further investigation. No information has been developed indicating any of the so-called comnunist "splinter groups; such as the Progressive Labor Party, Socialist Workers Party or the Workers World Party, have planned or instituted any con- certed effort or crive to discredit or attack the Warren Commission. Official publications of these organizations have from time to time contained isolated articles which OT have been critical of the Warren Commission, For example, . TOP SECRET ~ 5 om ch mewn) en iter Ho ene aires swieme CPyoy DoclId: 3227044654 Page ?