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
Bulgarian umbrella Executioner". A type of this umbrella is used even in poliziottesco Italian movie The Police Can't Move in 1975. A Bulgarian umbrella was featured in the 2013 "The Americans" episode, "The Clock". A similar assassination (and attempt) were central to the plot of the 1978 "Quincy, M.E." episode, "Hot Ice". The 2010 episode "Marionette" of "Fringe" begins with an organ thief administering a paralytic with an umbrella. In the AMC series Breaking Bad, season 2, episode 2, Walter White shows his accomplice, Jessie, a small bag of castor beans which he explained, the ricin can be extracted and which was