My agony after waking from coma, by poisoned Yulia
In dramatic TV appearance, Salisbury victim recalls horror of waking from coma ++ Says it WAS a ‘shocking’ assassination attempt ++ And snubs offers from Kremlin
‘Invasive, painful and depressing’
YULIA Skripal spoke last night of her horror at the poisoning that left both her and her father fighting for life – but said she still hopes to return to Russia.
She broke her silence to tell of her shock at the ‘assassination attempt’ after she and former Russian spy Sergei were exposed to the nerve agent in Salisbury in March.
Speaking from a secret location, Miss Skripal, 33, said: ‘After 20 days in a coma, I woke to the news that we had both been poisoned. I still find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that both of us were attacked.
‘We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful.
‘The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking. I don’t want to describe the details but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful and depressing.’
Wearing a blue summer dress, Miss Skripal looked well with no obvious signs of the terrifying ordeal she has endured over the last few months, except for a tell-tale tracheostomy scar on her neck.
She used the opportunity to snub the Kremlin once again, publicly rebuking the repeated Russian offers of help and insisting no-one else can speak on her or her father’s behalf.
‘I wish to address a couple of issues directly and have chosen to interrupt my rehabilitation to make this short statement,’ she said.
‘I’m grateful for the offers of assistance from the Russian Embassy but at the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services. Also, I want to reiterate what I said in my earlier state- ment that no one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves.’
The Russian Embassy in London last night issued an extraordinary statement which suggested that Miss Skripal is being ‘held against her own will’ and was ‘speaking under pressure’.
Britain has blamed Russia for the attack, with Prime Minister Theresa May describing the poisoning as ‘brazen’ and ‘despicable’.
Moscow, which denies involvement, has repeatedly demanded access to the victims and has even claimed they have been ‘abducted’ by the British authorities. British police are treating the poisoning of the Skripals as attempted murder.
However, Miss Skripal, who is a Russian citizen, said yesterday that despite her ‘life being turned upside down’ by the attack, she hopes to return to her homeland in the future.
‘I take one day at a time and want to help care for my Dad till his full recovery. In the longer term I hope to return home to my country,’ she said.
Both Mr Skripal, 66, a former double agent for UK intelligence who now has British citizenship, and his daughter appear to have made miraculous recoveries after doctors initially feared they may have been left brain dead by the crippling nerve agent Novichok. Miss Skripal spent almost five weeks in hospital before being released in April. Her father, who has made a slower recovery, was only discharged last Friday.
She said: ‘I was discharged from hospital on April 9 and continue to progress with treatment but my life has been turned upside down as I try to come to terms with the devastating changes thrust upon me both physically and emotionally.’
She also spoke of her gratitude to the ‘ kind staff ’ at Salisbury District Hospital, a place that she said she had become ‘all too familiar with’.
In her statement she said she had come to Salisbury before the attack to visit her father, something she has done ‘regularly in the past’.
She said she arrived in the UK on March 3, just one day before she and her father were found slumped comatose on a bench in the city’s centre. Speaking of those who came to their aid, including a police officer who was poisoned, she said: ‘I also think fondly of those who helped us on the street on the day of the attack.’
Miss Skripal, who is still under police protection, spoke to the Reuters news agency at a secret location in London. She refused to take any questions.
She spoke in Russian on camera and supplied a statement that she said she had written and signed herself in English. It is unclear whether she has been reunited with her father, who is also under round-the-clock guard in a secret location.
Miss Skripal’s family in Russia welcomed her video appearance.
Her cousin Viktoria, 45, who has been twice refused entry to Britain to see Mr Skripal and his daughter, said: ‘The whole family was incredibly happy to see the video as it at least confirms that she is alive.
this alone is such a joy.’ a Russian Embassy spokesman said last night: ‘the video shown only strengthens our concerns as to the conditions in which she is being held.
‘Obviously, Yulia was reading a pre- written text. More than that, judging by quite a few elements, the text was a translation from English and had been initially written by a native English-speaker.
‘the handwritten letters signed by Yulia in Russian and English confirm this impression. the UK is obliged to give us the opportunity to speak to Yulia directly in order to make sure that she is not held against her own will and is not speaking under pressure.
‘So far, we have every reason to suspect the opposite.’
Mr Skripal was jailed in Russia for 13 years in 2006 for passing on the identities of Russian spies in Europe to the UK intelligence services. he came to Britain as part of a prisoner swap with the US in 2010.