Oswald In Helsinki

[Dan O'meara]

I wasn't aware that Oswald stopped off for 5 days in Helsinki on his way to the Soviet Union.
Oswald sailed from New Orleans to Le Havre in France. He then made his way across the English Channel to arrive in Southampton.
From Southampton he made his way to London where he flew from London to Helsinki in Finland.
He stayed for 5 days in Helsinki while he waited for a tourist visa into the Soviet Union.
He then traveled from Helsinki to Moscow.

On 25th May '64, J. Lee Rankin wrote to Richard Helms (CIA) for information about the speed with which Oswald got his visa to enter the Soviet Union.
Rankin had heard that it would usually take at least week for a visa to be granted.
Oswald arrived in Helsinki on the 10th October '59 and was granted a visa by the 14th.
This might not seem too unusual but there was another, slightly more concerning possibility.
The 10th was a Sat.urday and the Soviet Consulate closed early and was closed all day Sunday.
If Oswald arrived late on Sat.urday it would mean he would have to wait until Monday morning, the 12th, to apply for his visa, meaning it only took two days to get his visa. This would be considered highly unusual:



There is a follow up to this request on June 1st but without much extra information other than the CIA having a presence in Helsinki.



Then I came across this article about the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) declassifying documents pertaining to Oswald's stay in Helsinki.
It turns out Oswald arrived late on Sat.urday and had to wait until Monday (the 12th) to apply for his visa and received it within two days (Wednesday the 14th).
He then traveled to Moscow on the 15th.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20064205

The article reveals something quite strange - when Oswald initially arrived in Helsinki he seemed to know he would only be staying 5 nights.
How could he know that?
How could he have his visa application expedited?
Who did he know in Helsinki?

[Tom Graves]

I wasn't aware that Oswald stopped off for 5 days in Helsinki on his way to the Soviet Union.
Oswald sailed from New Orleans to Le Havre in France. He then made his way across the English Channel to arrive in Southampton.
From Southampton he made his way to London where he flew from London to Helsinki in Finland.
He stayed for 5 days in Helsinki while he waited for a tourist visa into the Soviet Union.
He then traveled from Helsinki to Moscow.

On 25th May '64, J. Lee Rankin wrote to Richard Helms (CIA) for information about the speed with which Oswald got his visa to enter the Soviet Union.
Rankin had heard that it would usually take at least week for a visa to be granted.
Oswald arrived in Helsinki on the 10th October '59 and was granted a visa by the 14th.
This might not seem too unusual but there was another, slightly more concerning possibility.
The 10th was a Sat.urday and the Soviet Consulate closed early and was closed all day Sunday.
If Oswald arrived late on Sat.urday it would mean he would have to wait until Monday morning, the 12th, to apply for his visa, meaning it only took two days to get his visa. This would be considered highly unusual:



There is a follow up to this request on June 1st but without much extra information other than the CIA having a presence in Helsinki.



Then I came across this article about the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) declassifying documents pertaining to Oswald's stay in Helsinki.
It turns out Oswald arrived late on Sat.urday and had to wait until Monday (the 12th) to apply for his visa and received it within two days (Wednesday the 14th).
He then traveled to Moscow on the 15th.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20064205

The article reveals something quite strange - when Oswald initially arrived in Helsinki he seemed to know he would only be staying 5 nights.
How could he know that?
How could he have his visa application expedited?
Who did he know in Helsinki?

The answers to your multitudes of questions can be found in my thread, "How was LHO able to get a USSR tourist visa so quickly & leave with Marina, etc?"

[Dan O'meara]

The answers to your multitudes of questions can be found in my thread, "How was LHO able to get a USSR tourist visa so quickly & leave with Marina, etc?"

There's nothing at your thread except freestyling waffle.

How was Oswald's tourist visa expedited?
This is a very straight forward question.

[Lance Payette]

Deleted - overlapped with Dan's below and frankly I'm too worn out on the JFKA to be anything other than disdainfully snarky. Get back to me when the conspiracy is solved.

[Dan O'meara]

As far as getting a visa expedited, it appears that the man to know at the Soviet Consulate in Helsinki was Grigoriy Ye Golub.
This is a document (dated 13th March '59)  from CIA Chief of Station at Helsinki, Frank Friberg, to other station chiefs, about contact between Golub and William L. Costille (who I believe is a CIA agent operating in Helsinki).
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=225891#relPageId=2
It is a record from Costille of this meeting. He met Golub for lunch on Wenesday 18th Feb. Costille was planning a trip to Moscow on the 28th Feb:

"When Costliie appeared worried about getting his visa in time for the trip on 28 February, Golub stated not to worry that he would personally see tat the visa came through on time. Golub phoned Costille on Sat.urday at the Embassy to tell him that all the visas of the Americans making the trip were returned from Moscow approved. He stated that he had made a phone call to Moscow requesting they hurry the visas up. Otherwise we would never have received our visas in time, according to Golub."

The visas have to be approved in Moscow.
The only way to have them rushed through is to have Golub ring Moscow and request them to hurry up.
How, exactly, is teenage American tourist Oswald showing up in Helsiniki and getting Golub to hurry his tourist visa along?

[Tom Graves]

How, exactly, is teenage American tourist Oswald showing up in Helsinki and getting Golub to hurry his tourist visa along?

Maybe "Mole" Solie contacted Golub and told him, "'Useful idiot' Lee Harvey Oswald will be arriving in Helsinki on the 10th, mistakenly believing he's on a mission for the CIA, so please give him a tourist visa right away!"

[Dan O'meara]

It's possible that Oswald contacted the American Embassy in Helsinki directly, expressing his desire to enter the USSR.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=18980#relPageId=3

"A number of Americans have been calling at the U. S. Embassy who have not previously applied for Soviet visas and express a desire to travel to the USSR. Costille has been referring these Americans directly to Golub at the Soviet Embassy, as Golub once told Costille that he had the authority to grant visas without prior approval from Moscow. As long as the Americans had made travel arrangements through a local travel bureau, as well as hotel reservations, he stated he had no objections in giving them a visa in a matter of minutes. We had four occasions to try Golub out in this matter, and so far he has fulfilled his promise."


Maybe Oswald rocked up to the US Embassy in Helsinki on Monday morning, expressed his desire to enter the USSR and his case was put to Golub by Costille.

[Richard Smith]

If the point is that Oswald got his visa faster than others, but this is just a detail that has no larger implication, then it doesn't really matter why or how.  If the claim, however, is that Oswald getting expediated treatment is indicative of some involvement with the CIA or Russian intelligence, then it begs the question why did they need to expediate his visa in 1959?  Logically, someone would then look to how Oswald spent the two days or so afterward afforded by this expediated treatment.  Did anything significant or time sensitive happen in those two days?  If not, why not just process his visa in a normal manner?  Why any rush?  My experience here is that CTers like to point out real or imagined anomalies but then are uninterested in explaining the significance of those alleged anomalies.  It's the implication that is important.  The reasons are of no apparent interest because it undermines the desired narrative.