Note that Wikipedia claimed that the Russian guy may have been a double agent.
That would be a classic James Jesus Angleton chess move. If Angleton knew the Russian guy was a double agent then stick him close to Oswald so there is a nice trail leading straight to Moscow if Oswald became a patsy down the road for any future mission.
Angleton was both brilliant and crazy—made schemes that were ridiculously complex because he liked doing it.
I’m not an expert on Angleton, although I’ve heard about him plenty over the years.
He was puzzle-obsessed, as I understand it. Like the people who were hired by the British to work at Bletchley Park during WWII, as codebreakers.
I know he eventually unhinged his own mind with all his hall-of-mirrors stuff.
I think Tom Clancy mentions his story in at least one of his novels.