‘We were lucky to survive’: Yulia Skripal speaks
In her first TV appearance, Yulia Skripal tells of ‘slow and painful’ recovery after nerve agent attack
YULIA SKRIPAL admitted she was “lucky to have survived” the nerve agent attack on her and her father and spoke of her determination “in the longer term” to return to Russia.
In her first televised appearance, Miss Skripal, 33, said the attempted assassination had taken a “devastating” toll and described the clinical treatment to keep her alive as “invasive, painful and depressing”.
Miss Skripal read in Russian a prepared statement in which she described her recovery as “slow and painful”. A scar on her throat, presumably from a tracheotomy to help her breathe following the attack, was visible in footage released last night.
The message was an important signal to the Russian people that Miss Skripal remains in the UK, under the protection of the British authorities and of her own free will.
The Kremlin, which denied any involvement, accused the British Government of holding her captive and has repeatedly demanded access to her. As recently as the weekend, Vladimir Putin insisted that if Russian-manufactured, military-grade Novichok nerve agent had been used in the attack, then Miss Skripal and her 66-year-old father Sergei would have been killed.
In her statement, filmed at an undisclosed location in woodland in London, Miss Skripal said: “I came to the UK on the 3rd of March to visit my father, something I have done regularly in the past. 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.”
Smiling for the camera and filmed both walking on a woodland path and sitting at a table, Miss Skripal thanked “the wonderful, kind staff at Salisbury hospital”, describing it as “a place I have become all too familiar with”.
She also praised passers-by who rushed to her aid when she and her father collapsed on a bench outside a shopping area in the Wiltshire city.
Miss Skripal, who after reading out the statement is seen signing it, added: “I was discharged from hospital on the 9th of April 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. I take one day at a time and want to help care for my Dad until his full recovery. In the longer term I hope to return home to my country.”
She said she had decided to “interrupt my rehabilitation” to “address a couple of issues directly”, explaining: “I ask that everyone respects the privacy of me and my father. We need time to recover and come to terms with everything that has happened. 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 ... that no one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves.”
She added: “My focus remains on my recovery and my Dad’s health.”
The attempted assassination
‘I’m grateful for the offers of assistance from the Russian Embassy but I do not wish to avail myself of their services’
plunged relations between London and Moscow to a low point that has seen tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
Last week, Andrew Parker, MI5’S director general, for the first time publicly identified the Kremlin as responsible for the attack, accusing Mr Putin’s regime of committing “flagrant breaches of international rules”.
Col Sergei Skripal, a Russian military intelligence officer, settled in Salisbury in 2010 after being sent to the UK in a spy swap. He had been convicted of treason after selling secrets to MI6.
Britain has secured international support following the nerve agent attack and is understood to have identified “persons of interest” responsible for it through flight manifests and CCTV footage in and around Salisbury.
A Russian Embassy spokesman said last night: “We are glad to have seen Yulia Skripal alive and well. The statement she read out contains new information. However, the video shown only strengthens our concerns as to the conditions in which she is being held.
“Obviously, Yulia was reading a prewritten 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 ... confirm this impression. This video does not discharge the UK authorities from their obligations under Consular Conventions.”
Viktoria Skripal, Yulia’s cousin, also said she believed the statement had been made “under pressure” from the British authorities. “I won’t believe it, if there are reasonable people they won’t believe it, but you will all probably believe it,” she told The Daily Telegraph.