An Umbrella for Lovers

In 1977, in Yerevan, the capital of Soviet Armenia, the boldest and most sensational bank robbery in the history of the USSR took place. Two brothers, Nikolay and Felix Kalachyan, spent a long time studying the cash transport system of the State Bank (Gosbank). The tool used for the theft was surprising to everyone: a children's umbrella. The theft was executed quickly and calculatedly, resulting in the theft of about 1.5 million Soviet rubles—a staggering amount for that time, equivalent to the value of an entire factory or a residential district. However, in the Soviet Union, such a crime could not go unpunished. A large-scale investigation involving the KGB and the police began. A few months later, the brothers were arrested. The trial was closed, and they were sentenced to death. This case was kept secret for many years and only became known to the public after the collapse of the USSR. To this day, it is considered one of the most unusual and daring criminal stories in human history.