23 May 2018 20:58

Yulia Skripal says she wants to return to Russia in future

LONDON, May 23 (Interfax) - Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former Russian intelligence operative Sergei Skripal, said that she would like to return to Russia eventually, according to the British television channel Sky News.

"In the longer term, I hope to return home to my country," she was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful," she said.

Skripal said she wants "to help care for my dad till his full recovery."

"The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this [the attack on the Skripals] is shocking," she said.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were hospitalized in Salisbury on March 4 after being exposed to an unknown substance. Yulia has already been discharged from the hospital; her father is no longer in critical condition and is improving.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said in the parliament on March 12 that the Skripals had been poisoned with a nerve agent developed in Russia, Novichok (A-234). Moscow has resolutely rejected these accusations and said that Russia finished disposing of all of its chemical weapons under the OPCW's supervision in 2017.