Poison spy Sergei now wide awake and talking
Skripal ‘improving rapidly’ after attack
POISONED ex-spy Sergei Skripal is awake and talking as he recovers after more than a month in a coma.
Hospital bosses yesterday said the 66-year-old’s condition was “improving rapidly”, just weeks after warnings he may never recover from exposure to Novichok.
Whitehall sources confirmed the former KGB double agent was awake and talking.
It came hours after it was claimed the chemical’s source was Russia’s equivalent of the Porton Down defence laboratory.
Mr Skripal’s condition was described as “serious, not stable, but improving rapidly”. Dr Christine Blanshard, medical chief at Salisbury District Hospital, said: “He’s responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition.”
Russia’s embassy in the UK tweeted: “Good news!”
The revelation fuelled hopes Mr Skripal could assist the probe into the March 4 nerve agent attack on him and daughter Yulia, 33, in Salisbury.
Police will debrief him in coming days, once doctors give the all-clear. The ex-spy has been in hospital since the assault. Days ago, Yulia told how she was getting stronger.
Dr Blanshard said: “As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave hospital. Any speculation on that date is just that, speculation.” Yulia’s cousin Viktoria Skripal wants to visit her relative in the UK. But the Home Office said it has refused her visa because it “did not comply with immigration rules”. Earlier it was claimed Russia’s Shikhany research base had been identified as the nerve agent source. Hamish de BrettonGordon, ex-commander of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said: “The intelligence Britain has clearly points to Russia and Shikhany. “No doubt the Russians are scrubbing it down as we speak.” The Foreign Office said: “Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon we know Russia possesses.” Moscow accused Britain of Nazi-style propaganda. Its UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council the West was manipulating views using “the method of Dr Goebbels – lies repeated a thousand times become the truth”. Meanwhile the Russian embassy questioned the deaths of Mr Skripal’s pet guinea pigs. It said: “It remains unclear if their remains were tested for toxic substances... and if not, why such a decision was made.”