Georgi Markov people in the inner circles". Georgi Markov was assassinated on a London street via a micro-engineered pellet containing ricin, fired into his leg from an umbrella wielded by someone associated with the Bulgarian Secret Service. It has been speculated that they asked the KGB for help. Georgi Markov was born on March 1, 1929, in Knyazhevo, a Sofia neighbourhood. In 1946, he graduated from the "Gymnasium" (high school) and began university studies in industrial chemistry. Initially, Markov worked as a chemical engineer and a teacher in a technical school. At the age of 19 years he became ill with tuberculosis
Bulgarian umbrella Vladimir Kostov the same year in the Paris "Métro". The poison used in both cases was ricin. Both assassination attempts are believed to have been organized by the Bulgarian Secret Service of the time of the Cold War with the assistance of the KGB. Such an umbrella was intended to be used in the assassination of Pallo Jordan and Ronnie Kasrils by the South African Civil Cooperation Bureau death squad. These two cases inspired the 1980 French film "Le Coup du parapluie" ("The Umbrella Coup") directed by Gérard Oury and starring Pierre Richard, and Bulgarian writer Stefan Kisyov's novel "The