Doubts raised on statement by poisoned spy’s daughter
Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with her ex-spy father in Britain, has said in a video statement she would like to eventually return to Russia but first needed to get better.
Russia rubbished the statement, with The Kremlin on Thursday saying it doubted that she had issued it of her own free will. Britain blames Russia for the poisoning in March.
“I was discharged from hospital on April 9th but my treatment is continuing,” Skripal said on Wednesday. “In the future I hope to return home back to my country.”
Skripal said her recovery has been “slow and painful” and that she doesn’t need assistance offered by the Russian embassy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Kremlin doesn’t know whether Skripal made her statement under pressure or independently, where she is or if her rights have been respected by British authorities.
Russia has vehemently denied any involvement in the March 4 poisoning and blamed Britain for staging it. Peskov described the Skripals’ poisoning as an “unprecedented international provocation.”
“We have every reason not to trust it,” Peskov said of Skripal’s statement in a call with reporters. The cousin of Yulia Skripal said on Russian state television late Wednesday that she appeared to be delivering a statement written by others. “The text is learned by heart — I mean she doesn’t speak emotionally, she says it very quickly,” Viktoria Skripal said.