The miniature gun pictured was
in the possession of KGB 
assassin Nikolai Khokhlov, who 
opted to defect to West Germany
in 1954 rather than kill Georgi
Okolovich, an anti-communist
emigre in Frankfurt. The gun-- 
one of two issued to Khokhlov--
could fire poisoned bullets to
make sure of a kill. The collapsible barrel had a 
built-in silencer,and the gun when fired made "a sound 
less than the snap of a finger," according to press 
accounts at the time.