Originator: HSCA
From: CIA
Document date: 12/00/1978
Document type: REPORT

# DOCID-32273530

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JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

AGENCY :

RECORD NUMBER :

HSCA

180-10147-10175

RECORD SERIES: CIA SEGREGATED COLLECTION

AGENCY FILE NUMBER:

61-04-07

Document Information

ORIGINATOR:

FROM:

TO :

TITLE:

HSCA

CIA

DATE:

12/00/1978

PAGES:

6

SUBJECTS :

CIA, FILES

PASSPORTS AND VISAS, OSWALD, LEE

HELSINKI

DOCUMENT TYPE: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified

RESTRICTIONS:

1B

CURRENT STATUS : Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW :

09/07/1995

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENTS :

Box 34

v9.1

NW 66000 Docld:32273530 Page 1

Date:

4/27/201

Heleased under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection Act ol

1992 (44 USC 2107 Note). Case#:NW

6E000 Date: 11-04-2021

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Pinin

A9

Classification:

(This form is to be used for material extracted

from CIA - controlled documents.)

12/23

HELSINKI

Robert S. Anson, author of "They've Killed the

President! The Search for the Murderers of John F. Kennedy,"

offered a critical appraisal of Lee Harvey Oswald's travel

through Western Europe prior to his appearance in Moscow

on October 16, 1959. Anson expressed particular concern

over the issuance of a Soviet tourist visa in Helsinki,

Finland to Oswald prior to his entry into the Soviet Union.

Anson wrote that "/o In Monday, October 12, Oswald went

to the Soviet Consulate and applied for a visa.: It was

granted two days later!' (Anson, p. 159)/ Anson concluded:

Oswald also managed to secure a Soviet

visa in record time.

The CIA told the

Commission that under ordinary circum-

stances obtaining a visa in Finland

took one or two weeks; Oswald got his

in two days. (Ibid., P. 160)*

Anson was referring to the Warren Commission Report where it

is stated:

The Department of State has advised the Commission

that it has some information that in 1959 it usually

took an American tourist in Helsinki l to 2 weeks to

obtain a visa, and that it has other information that

the normal waiting period during the past 5 years has

been a week or less.

According to the Department's

information, the waiting period has always varied fre-

quently and widely, with one confirmed instance in 1963

of a visa routinely issued in less than 24 hours:

The

Central Intelligence Agency has indicated (continued)

2001191

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This form is to be used for material extracted

from CIA - controlled documents.)

Thus, the issue has arisen whether Oswald's receipt

of a Soviet visa prior to his entry into the Soviet Union

was an "odd happening" as Anson characterized it; circum-

stantial evidence tending to show

that Oswald had received

special assistance in order to enter the Soviet Union.

During the course of its investigation the Warren Commission

shared Anson's concerns.: In a letter to the CIA dated May

25, 1964 J. Lee Rankin inquired about the apparent speed

with which Oswald's Soviet visa was issued. Rankin noted

that he had recently spoken with Abraham Chayes of the

That

State Department who contended at the time Oswald received

his visa to enter Russia from the Soviet Embassy at Helsinki,

at least one week ordinarily transpired between the time

of a tourist's application for a visa and the issuance of

* (continued from previous page)

that visas during the 1964 tourist season were being granted

in about 5 to 7 days.

This information from the Department of State and the Central

Intelligence Agency thus suggests that Oswald's wait for a

visa may have been shorter than usual but not beyond the

range of possible variation:

The prompt issuance of Oswald's

visa may have been merely the result of normal procedures,

due in part to the fact that the summer rush had ended.

It might also mean that Oswald was unusually urgent in his

demands that his visa be issued promptly.

Oswald himself

told officials at the American Embassy in Moscow on October

31, when he appeared to renounce his citizenship, that he had

said nothing to the Soviets

about defecting until he arrived

in Moscow

In any event, the Commission has

found nothing

Pose Sarcumstances of Oswald's entry into the soviet Union

Classification:

which indicates that he was at the time an agent for the

U.S.S.R. (WCR, P. 258)-

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the visa.

Rankin contended that if Chayes' assessment

was accurate, then Oswald's obtaining his tourist visa

in from two to four days might have been very significant.{J.Lckankm

letxr.to

Rankin also stated that from CIA material supplied

2676

to the Warren Commission, the Comnission had concluded

that Oswald arrived in Helsinki by plane from London on

Saturday, October 10, 1959, and that Oswald had received

his Soviet tourist visa on Wednesday, October 14, 1959,

departing by train for the Soviet Union on October 15.* ≤ IbidI

Rankin noted that the Commission was interested in

SovieT

learning whether Oswald did in fact obtain his tourist

visa more quickly than was permal at that time. for the

soviet I

mbassy

Helsinki. (we letter by s. bee Rankin to

Richard Helms, DDP4-2676, 25 May 1964)

The CIA responded to Rankin's request fos information -rovi

Provides

SOViet VISA

on July 31, 19645

Proudlores

Richard Helms wrote to Rankin that the Soviet Consu

late in Helsinki was able to issue a transit visa (valid for

24 hours) to U.S. businessmen within five minutes but if a

longer stay were intended at least one week was needed to

process a visa application and arrange lodging through

Assuming Oswald arrived in Helsinki on October 10, under normal

conditions the earliest he would have been able to apply for

a Soviet tourist visa would have been the first working day

ater October 12, i.e. October 12.

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Boriet

letter

INTOURIST.

(Richard Helms

to J. Lee Rankin, DDP4-3916, 31

July 1964) A second communication from Helms to Rankin

dated September 14, 1964 added that during the 1964 tourist

season, Soviet Consulates in at least some Western European

cities issued Soviet tourist visas in from five to seven

letter

days. (Letters of Richard Helms to J. Lee Rankin, DDP4-4775,

14 September 1964)

In an effort to resolve this issue, the Committee

has reviewed

files maintained by the CIA which

sheds further light on the circumstances surrounding issuance

of oswala's soviet tourist visa. The CIA file concerns CIA

Gregorty Golub, Soviet Consul in Helsinki at the time Oswald

was issued his tourist visa. (CIA DocS. 0FHA-3939, 2 July

1959, OCOA-3745, 21 April 1959, OFHA-4132, 9 October 59%

Golub's file reveals that in addition to his Consular acti-

vities, he was believed to be an officer of the Soviet KGB.

(OCOW-2907, 26 June 1959, OFHW-2937, 21 September 1959)

Two CIA dispatches from Helsinki concerning Golub

are of particular significance with regard to the time neces-

sary for issuance of visas to Americans for travel into the

Soviet Union.

The first dispatch records that Golub disclosed dur-

ing a luncheon conversation that:

26185

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"Moscow had given him the authority to

give Americans visas without prior appro-

val from Moscow.

He (Golub) stated that

this would make his job much easier, and

as long as he was convinced the American

was "all right" he could give him a visa

in a matter of minutes....

(OFFA-396 22ded July 1959)

The second CIA Dispatch dated October 9, 1959, one

day prior to Oswald's arrival in Helsinki, illustrates

that Golub did have

the authority to issue visas without

delay. The Dispatch discusses telephone contact between

Golub and his Consular counterpart at the American Embassy

in Helsinki. In part the Dispatch discloses:

...Since that evening (September 4, 1959)

Golub has only phoned (the us consul) once

and this was on a business matter.:

Two.

Americans were in the Soviet Consulate at

the time and were applying for Soviet visas

thru (sic.) Golub.

They had previously

been in

the American consulate inquiring

about the possibility of obtaining a Soviet

visa in one or two days. (The U.S. Consul)

advised them to go directly to Golub and

make their request, which they did. Golub

phoned (the U.S. Consul) to state that he

would give them their visas as soon as they

made a the court rege yation then

their visas.

* To the patch dod rage define the meaning given by colub

** Evidently, Oswald had made arrangements with Intourist because

upon his arrival at Moscow raiiroad station on October 16, he

he no made

was met by an Intourist representative and taken to the Hotel

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Berlin where he registered

as a student. (WCP. 691)

12.3

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Tan it cal

(This form is to be used for material extracted

from CIA - controlled documents.)

Thus, based upon these additional two factors:

Golub's authority to issue visas to Americans without prior

this

approval from moscow, and 2) a demonstration of the authority, as

repried ina cit dispatch,

approximately one month prior to Oswald's appearance at

the Soviet Embassy, the Committee has found that the available

153:00001.0

evidence tends to support the conclusion that Oswald's

tourist visa within two to four days after his appearance

at the Soviet Consulate, were somewhat suspect, does not

warrant the belief that Oswald's travel into the Soviet

Union was assisted by others, particularly the Soviets.

However, the possibility of assistance cannot be dismissed

due to Golub's probable connection with the KGB and the

necessary

lack of other substantive information available to definitely

confirm that Oswald's visa was handled in a manner similar

to.

that of the two American students who had entered the

Soviet Union with Golub's assistance via Finland.

20612.M

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