Lee Harvey Oswald was a “poor shot” during gun practice in the Soviet Union, newly released documents on President John F Kennedy’s assassination reviewed by Newsweek have revealed.

Why It Matters

Oswald was arrested for murdering President Kennedy but was shot dead by Jack Ruby before he could be tried.

Conspiracy theories about the assassination persist, and the document provides additional context on Oswald, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 before returning to the U.S. The file may contribute to ongoing debates about Oswald’s ability to shoot Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, where he worked.

Lee Harvey Oswald booking photo after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald booking photo after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November, 1963. Dallas Police/National Archives and Records Administration

What To Know

The Trump administration released the remaining files related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday.

Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

The files consist of investigative reports, memos, communications and other documents related to the government’s investigation into the president’s death.

One CIA document from November 20, 1991, one month before the Soviet Union was dissolved, recalls a conversation between an American professor living in Russia and a Soviet official named Nikonov.

“Nikonov personally reviewed KGB files to determine if Lee Harvey [Oswald] had been a KGB agent. He reviewed five thick volumes of files on Oswald. Nikonov is now confident that Oswald was at no time an agent controlled by the KGB.”

The files reviewed by Nikonov “reflected that Oswald was a poor shot when he tried target firing in the USSR.”

“From the description of Oswald in the files, he doubted that anyone could control Oswald, but noted that the KGB watched him closely and constantly while he was in the USSR,” it states.

“He commented that Oswald had a stormy relationship with this Soviet wife, who rode him incessantly.”

That refers to Marina Oswald. A 1993 PBS documentary showed that she was a domestic abuse victim and that Oswald’s abuse increased after they returned to the United States together.

Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, Marina, depart Russia to live in the United States in June 1962. Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, Marina, depart Russia to live in the United States in June 1962. National Archives and Records Administration

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump announced in an executive order that he would release the files: “I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.”

“And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest,” the order states.

What Happens Next

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is continuing to upload the entire JFK file collection to its website but has not yet set a date for its completion.

“NARA is committed to transparency as we digitize the publicly available material in the JFK Assassination Records Collection. We will be adding newly digitized records to the National Archives Catalog on a rolling basis and listing them on the JFK Assassination Records Collection webpage. Records not yet digitized can be accessed in person at the National Archives at College Park, MD.”

NARA is also preparing a plan for the release of the Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassination files.