https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10211-10001.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawJHKy5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeeln43eSC0-WZ8N2LCpHn7kg6O21qHGqgLOCsVv4QFjkBs4VSNAv0-okw_aem__FVHi3rSPsGrftNjFHjx0g
Notice anything.
It's hard to believe the Soviets would send someone so unprepared, so ignorant of basic information to impersonate an agent. Nosenko didn't know how to send a cable - the format; he didn't know where his office was in Lubyanka, how he got to it; he didn't know where the cafeteria was; he said he had been a Naval officer before joining the KGB but couldn't answer basic questions about the navy. On and on and on. The files reinforce this. If they're sending a fake, at least prepare him with the basic information. Not this.
On the other hand, Oleg Kalugin, who later became head of the KGB operations in the US, was in New York at the time and said there was absolute panic when they learned Nosenko defected. Numerous operations had to be shut down, agents returned home. He was even asked by his superior if he, Kalugin, would be willing to shoot Nosenko if they located him. Kalugin defected to the US and in response Putin put a death order on him.
Then on the third hand (this is the JFK assassination; things get complicated), Mailer interviewed over two dozen KGB agents who were assigned to watch Oswald when in Minsk. None mention anything about Nosenko.
There are fourth and fifth hands. At least.
Who and what to believe?