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Clinton team feared ‘disinformation’ from Russia Oswald files

WASHINGTON — President Bill Clinton’s administration was fearful of getting “disinformation” if it asked Russia for its files on Lee Harvey Oswald, according to documents released Friday.

Under pressure from the Assassination Records Review Board, White House officials nearly two decades ago debated whether to have Clinton ask then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin for records on the assassin of John F. Kennedy, who defected to Russia in 1959 and lived there until 1962.

“I am a bit concerned at the likelihood that the Russian intelligence agencies will have doctored [the files’] contents,” wrote Stuart Kaufman, a National Security Council staffer, in a June 21, 1999, e-mail to colleague William Leary.

“[E]ven worse than their probably having removed information that makes them look bad is the possibility that they might have inserted some disinformation to try to embarrass USG [the United states government].”

Kaufman’s memo was among 4,000 pages of papers made public by the National Archives from the Clinton Presidential Library in the second round of such releases.

Yeltsin ended up presenting Clinton with the files in 1999.

Other documents shed more light on White House give-and-take on issues including terrorism and health care.