In the days following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Soviet officials scrambled to issue reassurances that they had no hand in the killing.
Document 180-10144-10240, released in the 2025 JFK files, captures this moment of Cold War panic.
The Soviet Union didn’t just deny involvement-they expressed genuine fear that the event could spiral into global war.
🚨 “They Are Terrified”
According to the source, a Soviet contact told American officials that Soviet leaders were alarmed-not because they felt implicated, but because they worried that the assassination could be perceived as the first act in a larger geopolitical plot.
“They were terrified that the murder of the President might be an attempt to spark war.”
This wasn’t Cold War posturing. It was Cold War panic.
🧱 From Denial to Damage Control
The Soviets immediately began emphasizing that Oswald was unknown to them and that he was viewed as mentally unstable, undesirable, and untrustworthy. But this went beyond PR. The document reveals that Soviet officials were genuinely afraid the U.S. might retaliate-militarily-based on the false perception of Soviet involvement.
This wasn’t about innocence. It was about survival.
🧩 One Memo, Two Messages
What’s notable in the document is the dual message: on the surface, it’s a denial of involvement. Beneath that, it’s a desperate attempt to calm an escalating situation.
In 1963, a single bullet in Dallas had the potential to become the trigger for nuclear war.
❗ A Forgotten Flashpoint
This document is a reminder that the JFK assassination wasn’t just a national trauma-it was an international emergency. The Soviets feared that even a perceived link to Oswald could lead to devastating consequences.
And for a brief moment, the Cold War nearly got hot.
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