Skripal off the critical list as ‘pawn’ niece is barred from UK

SERGEI SKRIPAL is no longer in a critical condition, his doctors announced yesterday, as his niece was denied a visa to visit the UK amid concerns she was being used as a Kremlin “pawn”.

Col Skripal has been in hospital since March 4 after he was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, but Salisbury District Hospital said the 66-year-old was “improving rapidly”.

His recovery will raise hopes that he could give investigators vital clues about how and why he and Yulia, his daughter, were targeted.

It came as Col Skripal’s niece, Viktoria, was denied the right to visit her relatives in hospital after the Home Office refused her visa application on the grounds that it “did not comply with the immigration rules”. But Miss Skripal reportedly told Sky News that “the British must have something to hide”.

Meanwhile, it emerged Col Skripal’s cat was put down and his two guinea pigs died after the former double agent’s house was cordoned off in the wake of the poisoning. The black Persian cat, called Nash Van Drake, was reportedly taken to the Porton Down military laboratory, but was so malnourished that the decision was taken to euthanise it.

The two guinea pigs were found dead and all three animals were reportedly incinerated. A spokesman for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down confirmed the animals were not tested to see if they were contaminated. The spokesman said it was an “operational decision”.

But Moscow questioned why the bodies of the pets were destroyed because they could have provided investigators with a “crucial piece of evidence”.

Doctors in Salisbury yesterday announced Col Skripal’s condition had improved significantly. Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at the hospital, said: “He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.”

The hospital announced last Thursday that Yulia’s condition had improved to stable. The Foreign Office said the pair’s recovery was a “tribute to the hardworking and talented NHS staff in Salisbury”. The Russian embassy in the UK described the development as “good news”.

Scotland Yard said Col Skripal and his daughter first came into contact with the nerve agent at his home, with the highest concentration of the substance found on the front door.

The improving condition of Col Skripal and his daughter is likely to prompt questions about how the pair survived.

Dan Kaszeta, a security and chemical defence consultant, said: “Nerve agents only really work quickly when they are inhaled” while the effectiveness of the material could have been mitigated by “human factors” such as washing hands or rainfall.