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Post by Admin on Apr 6, 2018 18:07:45 GMT
UK police have issued a statement on behalf of Russian spy Sergei Skripal's daughter, the first since the pair were poisoned by a nerve agent in March. The statement quoted Yulia Skripal as saying her "strength is growing daily". Ms Skripal, 33, and her father are in hospital in Salisbury, southern England, where the attack took place. The UK Foreign Office says Ms Skripal, who is a Russian citizen, has not yet taken up Russia's offer of consular assistance. The Russian embassy in London said last week that it was insisting on its right to see her after it emerged that she was conscious and talking. Earlier on Thursday, Russian TV aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation between Ms Skripal and her cousin.
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Post by Admin on Apr 7, 2018 18:09:22 GMT
Yulia Skripal, daughter of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, has spoken publicly for the first time since the pair were poisoned with a nerve agent, saying she regained consciousness over a week ago.
The 33-year-old thanked hospital staff in Salisbury, the English city where the attack took place on March 4, and said she was recovering well.
"I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received," Skripal said in a statement released on her behalf by London's Metropolitan Police.
"I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated. Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism," she said.
"I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence," she added.
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Post by Admin on Apr 9, 2018 18:15:35 GMT
Poisoned spy Sergei Skripal is no longer in a critical condition and his daughter says her strength is "growing daily". Just a few weeks ago they were seemingly on the brink of death - so how did they survive? Alastair Hay, Professor of Environmental Toxicology at Leeds University, tells Sky News how they may have fought off the novichok nerve agent and managed a "miracle" recovery. :: But first, how dangerous is novichok really? "The nerve agents are deadly," says Prof Hay. "That's why they were chosen as chemical weapons. If you are exposed to a number of lethal doses then invariably it is fatal." They block acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme active in the nervous system. The result is involuntary contraction of all muscles, leading to cardiac arrest and asphyxiation. One of the scientists who helped make novichok has also told Sky News the substance was designed to do "irreparable" damage to the body.
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Post by Admin on Apr 16, 2018 18:22:49 GMT
Russian intelligence agencies targeted poison victim Yulia Skripal's email account as early as 2013, the UK's national security adviser has said. In a letter to Nato, Sir Mark Sedwill also said Russia trained "special units" to use nerve agents, including applying them to door handles. Police said a nerve agent was found on Yulia's father Sergei Skripal's front door in Salisbury. The Russian government has denied any involvement in the 4 March attack.
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Post by Admin on Apr 18, 2018 18:39:53 GMT
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, claims former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned by a non-lethal chemical made in Britain and the US. Mr Lavrov says the pair were not attacked with novichock but instead with BZ - a toxin never developed in Russia - which a laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland, found. ‘This formulation was in the inventory of the United States, Britain and other Nato states,’ Mr Lavrov said. Yet the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), last week said an analysis of samples from the Salisbury scene confirmed the UK's assessment that 'high purity' Novichok was used.
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