The Elusive Kostikov Book?

[Margaret Kelly]

In Posners "Case Closed", he says:

"By 1993 Kostikov had also begun working on a book about his meeting with Oswald (interview with Brian Litman, April 29, 1993)."

Anyone know if this book exists? Maybe Kostikov wrote it in russian and its never been translated?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

In Posners "Case Closed", he says:

"By 1993 Kostikov had also begun working on a book about his meeting with Oswald (interview with Brian Litman, April 29, 1993)."

Anyone know if this book exists? Maybe Kostikov wrote it in russian and its never been translated?

Litman says that Kostikov was a former "client" and that he died in 2002. Litman also says he arranged the book deal for Nechiporenko but doesn't mention, as far as I can tell, what happened on the planned book by Kostikov. He also says that Kostikov et al. did meet Oswald.

His "biography" - such as it is - on Kostikov is here:  https://medium.com/@bdlitman/col-valery-vladimirovich-kostikov-kgb-aka-comrade-kostin-33f7d730adb1

[Brian D. Litman]

I tried to motivate Valery to do a number of projects, but he was even more secretive than the other KGB operatives I worked with.

What I am prepared to share is that for Valery to do a book that would do justice to his career in KGB would reveal operations of such geopolitical sensitivity, that even today - the reverberations would be destructive.

This because he was connected to Dept 13 / Dept V, which conducted the most physically serious of FCD operations.

But spending an evening with him and a 1.75 liter bottle of Stoli will permanently change the way you understand how the World really works.

##BDL

https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ussr-kennedy-assassination-oswald-kgb-contact-mexico-assassinations-officer/28819941.html

[Steve M. Galbraith]

I tried to motivate Valery to do a number of projects, but he was even more secretive than the other KGB operatives I worked with.

What I am prepared to share is that for Valery to do a book that would do justice to his career in KGB would reveal operations of such geopolitical sensitivity, that even today - the reverberations would be destructive.

This because he was connected to Dept 13 / Dept V, which conducted the most physically serious of FCD operations.

But spending an evening with him and a 1.75 liter bottle of Stoli will permanently change the way you understand how the World really works.

##BDL

https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ussr-kennedy-assassination-oswald-kgb-contact-mexico-assassinations-officer/28819941.html

If I may, did Kostikov ever express any doubts about whether the man who came to the Embassy was indeed Oswald? And not an impostor?

It seems to me that the reaction by the Soviets on this issue - or lack of one, i.e., they didn't report that Oswald was impersonated - is a sort of "dog that didn't bark" type clue. They officially blamed the CIA for the assassination; why wouldn't they *also* say that part of this CIA plan was to impersonate Oswald in order to blame Cuba or the USSR for the act?

The fact that the Soviets and Cubans both agreed that the man that went to Mexico City was Oswald is a problem for those that say he was impersonated. If you think the CIA and US government all lied then what exactly? You think that both Moscow and Havana lied too. Or they fell for this impersonation?

So Kostikov et al confused this man below with Oswald? That's not believable. Especially since Nechiporenko said (to Edward Epstein) the man below was not the man who said he was Oswald but a different American, a US Air Force enlisted man who came to the Embassy offering military secrets (interesting that the CIA missed this matter).

[Gerry Down]

Where did Epstein report this? Is it in one of his books?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Where did Epstein report this? Is it in one of his books?

Yes, in his latest one: "Assume Nothing: Encounters with Assassins, Spies, Presidents, and Would-Be Masters of the Universe". The book is mostly fluff but does have some interesting anecdotes. Here's the account (the "he" here is Nechiporenko).

[Michael T. Griffith]

In Posners "Case Closed", he says:

"By 1993 Kostikov had also begun working on a book about his meeting with Oswald (interview with Brian Litman, April 29, 1993)."

Anyone know if this book exists? Maybe Kostikov wrote it in russian and its never been translated?

Kostikov was and remains a false lead. There is no credible, believable innocent explanation for the CIA's failure to produce a single photo of Oswald entering or leaving the Soviet Embassy. There is also no rational, tenable innocent explanation for the CIA's failure to produce a single recording of "Oswald" talking with someone/anyone at the Soviet Embassy. To believe that the CIA accidentally destroyed the surveillance photos and also the wiretap recordings, one would have to be gullible enough to believe in the tooth fairy. 

The Kostikov incident was part of the plan to be able to blame the assassination on the Soviets if needed. It was also used to scare the daylights out of government officials and to persuade them that they had to go along with the lone-gunman tale or else face World War III and tens of millions of deaths.