Mr. Rankin.

rabbits or things of that sort. Did he go to the hunting club on other occasions to practice to shoot?

Mrs. Oswald.

When I first saw the rifle here in the United States I didn't pay much attention to it because I thought this was the rifle he had brought from Russia.

Mr. Rankin.

Did he practice shooting the rifle in Russia?

Mrs. Oswald.

No.

Mr. Rankin.

Did you see him or observe him cleaning the rifle in Russia?

Mrs. Oswald.

Yes.

Mr. Rankin.

And would he clean the rifle, did he clean it on several occasions?

Mrs. Oswald.

Yes, several times.

Mr. Rankin.

The hunting club that he belonged to, did it have an instructor in shooting the rifle?

Mrs. Oswald.

I don't know but there should have been one.

Mr. Rankin.

Now, he had to have a permit to purchase the rifle in Russia.

Mrs. Oswald.

Yes; you can't possess a rifle without a--permission in the Soviet Union.

Mr. Rankin.

Did he purchase the rifle from a government agency?

Mrs. Oswald.

You buy these rifles in special stores, but to buy them you have to have a paper from the hunting club stating that you have the right to buy a rifle.

Mr. Rankin.

And the authorized government official gave him authority to by the gun through the hunting club?

Mrs. Oswald.

The hunting club issues this permit. He used to clean the rifle but he never used it. It always hung on the wall.

Mr. Rankin.

Mrs. Oswald, will you describe what you were saying off the record in regard to his going out to use the rifle in the country as distinguished from using it in the club?

Mrs. Oswald.

We all went out together in a group of boys and girls in order to get--to swim a little and to get a suntan. It was a lake which is just on the edge, of town not far from Minsk, and the men had guns, and they all went out to try to shoot some kind of rabbit or bird or something like that, and the men went off together and I heard several shots and they came back and they hadn't caught anything so we laughed at it.

Mr. Rankin.

Did that happen more than once?

Mrs. Oswald.

Only one such trip. And even that time he didn't want to take the gun with him. He took it only because one of my friends was laughing at him and said, "You have a gun hanging here and you never use it. Why don't you bring it along and see if you can use it."

Mr. Rankin.

Did you and your husband have any friends other than Russians while you were at Minsk?

Mrs. Oswald.

There were friends. We had some friends from Argentina but they didn't come on this excursion with us.

Mr. Rankin.

Did you have any friends there who were from Cuba?

Mrs. Oswald.

There were Cuban students studying in Minsk, and this Argentinian girl had a Cuban boyfriend and possibly Lee met this boyfriend, this Cuban student, but I never met him.

Mr. Dulles.

Do you know where the Cuban students were studying, what particular school?

Mrs. Oswald.

They study in various educational institutions in Minsk, some are in the medical institute, others are in the agricultural and others are in the polytechnical institute.

Mr. Dulles.

Could you tell us a little more about these Argentinians, were they there for educational reasons or what was the reason they were there?

Mrs. Oswald.

Excuse me; I am mixed up with Cubans. You talk about Argentinians?

Mr. Dulles.

I asked about Argentinians but I would be glad to have you add the Cubans to it, too.

Mrs. Oswald.

There is agreement between the Cuban Government and the Russian Government; and the Cuban Government under this agreement sends Cuban students to study in the Soviet Union.
From what I could tell from what Lee said, many of these Cuban students