Moscow accuses Britain of ‘abducting’ Yulia Skripal after release from hospital
THE daughter of the former Russian spy poisoned in Salisbury was last night at a secret, secure location after being released from hospital, leading to accusations from the Russian embassy that she had been abducted.
Yulia Skripal was discharged more than five weeks after being left critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent in an attempted assassination blamed on the Russian state.
Doctors said she and Sergei Skripal, her father, had responded “exceptionally well” to treatment and he too was expected to be discharged in the future.
Ross Cassidy, a close friend of Col Skripal who picked Yulia up from Heathrow airport when she arrived in this country the day before the attack, said he was “delighted” she had been discharged. “It’s great news, it has come much sooner than we expected,” he said.
The pair had been widely expected to die after they were exposed to a rare nerve agent the British government says came from the Russia’s Novichok chemical weapons programme. Theresa May has said it is “highly likely” Russia was behind the attack on Col Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer released to the UK in a 2010 spy swap after he was jailed for spying for the British.
The Russian embassy in London yesterday congratulated Ms Skripal, 33, on her recovery, but then said it needed “urgent proof that what is being done to her is done on her own free will”.
It went on to say the “secret resettlement of Col and Ms Skripal, barred from any contact with their family will be seen as an abduction or at least as their forced isolation”.
Russia has denied any involvement
in the attack and criticised the British investigation for a lack of transparency, but the Government has said the Kremlin is trying to hide its guilt with a blizzard of conspiracy theories. Moscow has sought consular access to Ms Skripal, but the Foreign Office has said it is up to her if she wants to meet officials.
She is expected to be kept under tight security while she continues to recover. Sources said it was too early to speculate on whether she will need lifetime protection. Under the police witness protection programme, called the UK’S Protected Persons Service, she could be given a new identity and relocated.
Doctors at Salisbury District Hospital gave the first indication of how they had managed to save the Skripals and DS Nick Bailey, a police detective who was poisoned in the investigation.
Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director, said they had been given roundthe-clock care, with doctors drawing on advice from experts around the world.
The poison had attacked its victims’ nervous systems causing symptoms including hallucinations and sickness.
Dr Blanshard said: “Our job in treating the patients has been to stabilise them – ensuring that they could breathe and that blood could continue to circulate. We then needed to use a variety of drugs to support the patients until they could create more enzymes to replace those affected by the poison. We used specialised decontamination techniques to remove residual toxins.
“Both have responded exceptionally well to treatment.”
She said Ms Skripal would need more treatment, but her release from hospital was a milestone. Col Skripal was taken off the critical list on Friday and is said to be making good progress.