86. Editorial Note
On September 7, 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian playwright and defector who worked as a broadcaster for the British Broadcasting Corporation Bulgarian language service and with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was taken to hospital after collapsing in Central London. From his hospital bed, Markov reported that while waiting for a bus on Waterloo Bridge, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh, turned around, and saw a man picking up an umbrella and quickly walking away. (Telegram 232700 to Sofia, London, and Munich September 14; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780373–1039) Markov died three days later in a London hospital. Following another similar attempt on Vladimir Kostov, a Bulgarian dissident in Paris, Markov’s body was exhumed and his death was declared a homicide. (Telegram 14971 from London, September 15; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780379–0009) The Embassy in Bulgaria was informed on October 11 that the Central Intelligence Agency had advised the Department of State that the method of delivery of the poison in the Markov and Kostov cases was identical. (Telegram 257014 to Sofia, October 11; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780415–0915) The pellet used in the Kostov attempt was recovered intact.
Speculation on Bulgarian Secret Police involvement was rife in the Western press. The Bulgarian Government made several protests over treatment of Bulgaria in the media in the United Kingdom, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Spain. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mladenov raised the issue with British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Goronwy-Roberts, when he visited Bulgaria. (Telegram 2268 from Sofia, October 27; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780444–0578)
In his book Spymaster, former KGB General Oleg Kalugin alleged that the Bulgarian Secret Police requested help from the KGB for the Markov assassination on direct orders from Bulgarian General Secretary Todor Zhivkov. Kalugin suggested that it was the KGB who developed the ricin poison, the delivery method, and trained the Bulgarians in the use of the umbrella weapon. (pages. 203–212)