Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Oswald’s contacts with the U.S. Soviet Embassy

This section documents Oswald’s confirmed contacts with the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. after his return to the United States in June 1962. It notes that Oswald wrote to the Embassy requesting information on subscriptions to Russian newspapers and magazines, which he ultimately pursued, and that his wife Marina, as a Soviet citizen living abroad, was required by Soviet law to maintain regular contact with the Embassy for administrative purposes. In 1963, after Oswald faced repeated employment difficulties, the couple submitted a formal request for permission to return to the Soviet Union: Marina’s February 17, 1963 letter stated she wished to return to Russia while her husband would remain in the U.S. as an American national. The Soviet Union provided the Commission with its full correspondence with the Oswalds, which contained no detectable codes, and no suspicious content aside from a November 1963 letter from Oswald to the Embassy discussed later in the chapter.

Analysis of Oswald’s November 1963 Soviet Embassy letter

This section analyzes Oswald’s November 9, 1963 letter to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., which referenced his meetings with Soviet Embassy official Comrade Kostin (identified by the CIA as KGB officer Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov) in Mexico City, and mentioned a Cuban consul (identified as Eusebio Azque, who was permanently transferred from Mexico to Cuba on November 18, 1963, four days before the assassination) with whom Oswald had a dispute. Comparing the final letter to a preliminary draft found among Oswald’s possessions, the Commission found Oswald intentionally altered details to make his Mexico trip appear more mysterious and important than it was. For example, he falsely claimed he left Mexico due to expiring 15-day visa restrictions (his tourist card still had a full week of validity when he departed on October 3) rather than because he found the trip useless, and falsely claimed he returned to the U.S. using his real name to request a new visa when he had used his real name for all official dealings during the trip. The Commission concluded the letter was a clumsy attempt to ingratiate himself with the Soviet Embassy, with no conspiratorial implications.