Bulgarian umbrella

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Design of the weapon.
Design of the weapon.

A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism in it which shoots out small pellets containing poison. Such an umbrella was used in the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov on September 7, 1978 (the birthday of the Bulgarian State Council Chairman Todor Zhivkov who had often been the target of Georgi Markov's criticism), on Waterloo Bridge in London (Markov died four days later), and also in the failed assassination attempt against the Bulgarian dissident journalist Vladimir Kostov the same year in the Paris underground. The poison used in both cases was ricin. Both assassination attempts are believed to have been organized by the Bulgarian secret services of the time of the Cold War with the help of the KGB. These two cases have inspired the creation of the French film "Le coup de parapluie" ("Umbrella coup") directed by Gerard Oury, starring Pierre Richard.

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