Poisoned Russky spy on the mend
The former Russian spy found slumped over in Great Britain after being poisoned is no longer in critical condition and is “improving rapidly,” the hospital treating him said Friday.
It was the first official news on the condition of Sergei Skripal, 66, since he and daughter Yulia, 33, were found poisoned on a bench on March 4 in Salisbury.
The affair has sparked a bitter diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow and prompted a wave of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats.
Skripal “is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no long- er in a critical condition,” said Salisbury District Hospital director Christine Blanshard.
As for his daughter, “her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital,” Blanshard added.
Britain blames Russia for the poisoning of the Skripals — a charge the Kremlin furiously denies.
The first public comments by Yulia Skripal since the poisoning emerged Thursday.
“My strength is growing daily,” she was quoted as saying in comments released by police.
Moscow earlier Friday rejected a British news report that the Novichok nerve agent was manufactured at a facility in the town of Shikhany southeast of Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused London of trying “feverishly and convulsively to look for some new confirmation of their absolutely indefensible position.”
Russian officials said earlier Friday that no chemical weapons were ever stored at Shikhany.