For decades, the K.G.B. (the Soviet Union’s spy agency and secret police) was shrouded in mystery. Now the K.G.B. Spy Museum in New York City is shedding light on the agency’s brutal tactics. The museum contains more than 3,500 artifacts, mainly ones used from 1954 through the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, including concealed cameras, a lipstick gun, and an umbrella that dispenses poison. The museum opens at a time when Russian intelligence has been at the forefront of current events. In December, Maria Butina, a young Russian, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent in the U.S., and in 2016, U.S. intelligence agencies say, Russia interfered in the American presidential election, attempting to influence the results. Still, the museum isn’t meant to be political. “We’re just stating facts,” says Agne Urbaityte, the museum’s co-curator. “A lot of stories have been heard about this period, but nothing has been seen before.”