Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former double agent Sergei, has been discharged from hospital, five weeks after being exposed to a nerve agent in Salisbury.
Skripal and her father were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury on March 4, after they were attacked with an A-234 nerve agent, similar to Novichok. The director of Salisbury District Hospital said Tuesday that Yulia has been discharged and her father’s health is improving.
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Since the attack on the ex-Russian double agent and his daughter, the British government has placed the blame at Russia’s feet; a claim which Moscow has repeatedly denied.
The Russian embassy in London welcomed confirmation of Skripal’s release from hospital, but appealed for “urgent proof that what is being done to her is done on her own free will.”
Last week, Yulia, 33, spoke to her Moscow-based cousin Viktoria, who recorded the phone conversation and shared it with Russian state media. In the recording, Yulia told her cousin that she was “being discharged soon.” She also said that her father Sergei, 66, was “resting now, he’s sleeping.” She added: “Everyone’s health is OK. No one has had any irreversible [harm].”
On Wednesday, Porton Down Chief Executive Gary Aitkenhead revealed that the laboratory was unable to confirm the origin of the chemical agent used in the attack. Aitkenhead’s comments came after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a German TV interview that Porton Down had said the substance used to poison the Skripals was unequivocally Russian.
Media reports suggest that the US is prepared to resettle the Skripals under new identities. Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, has warned that such a move points to the CIA’s role in the poisoning saga and could see the Skripals disappear without providing key evidence on the case.
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