Ricin secret police: Georgi Markov had defected from Bulgaria some years previously and had subsequently written books and made radio broadcasts that were highly critical of the Bulgarian communist regime. However, it was believed at the time that Bulgaria would not have been able to produce the pellet, and it was also believed that the KGB had supplied it. The KGB denied any involvement, although high-profile KGB defectors Oleg Kalugin and Oleg Gordievsky have since confirmed the KGB's involvement. Earlier, Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn also suffered (but survived) ricin-like symptoms after an encounter in 1971 with KGB agents. Ten days before
1978 Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev Tu-134 crash 1978 Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev Tu-134 crash The 1978 Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev Tu-134 crash was an accident that occurred on 16 March 1978, when a Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 airliner on an international flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Warsaw Airport, Poland crashed. On departure from Sofia, the aircraft was climbing to , but at it turned on a heading of 050. It turned again to 270 then began an abnormal descent. The aircraft crashed near the village of Gabare, 130 km northeast of Sofia. All 73 on board died. It was never established what the nature of the emergency was