'SLOW AND EXTREMELY PAINFUL'
Yulia Skripal says she and Russian spy dad Sergei ‘lucky to have survived assassination attempt’ in first interview since nerve agent attack in Salisbury
YULIA Skripal broke her silence today to reveal she feels lucky to have survived the shocking nerve agent attack on her life but still wants to return home to Russia.
Yulia, who was targeted with dad Sergei in Salisbury in March, said: "We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful."
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She added: "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 till his full recovery.
"In the longer term I hope to return home to my country.
"The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking. My life has been turned upside down," Yulia revealed in her first interview since the attack.
Yulia and her father, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britains MI6 foreign spy service, were found unconscious on a public bench in Salisbury on March 4.
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Yulia had only travelled from Moscow to Britain the day before she and Sergei were found slumped. They had just enjoyed a drink at The Mill pub and food at Zizzi.
Both were taken to hospital in a critical condition. Det Sgt Nick Bailey - one of the first on the scene - also needed treatment after being exposed to the nerve agent.
At one stage doctors feared both Sergei and Yulia may have suffered brain damage. But she was discharged five weeks after the March 4 poisoning and he followed suit last Friday.
Yulia, 33, was in a coma for 20 days. She has a deep scar on her neck but the Met Police will not confirm if it is related to the attack.
"I woke to the news that we had both been poisoned," Yulia said in her first media appearance since the poisoning. She contacted Reuters through the British police.
Yulia was speaking from a secret location in London as she is under the protection of the British state - who believe the Kremlin was behind the attack.
She was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital about five weeks after the poisoning and has not been seen by the media until now.
"We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful," she said in her written English statement.
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Yulia spoke in Russian and supplied a statement that she said she had written herself in both Russian and English.
She signed both documents after making her statement. She declined to answer questions after speaking to camera.
The incident sparked the biggest diplomatic crisis between Russia and Western nations since the Cold War.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.
May blames Russia for the poisoning. It was the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two.
Yulia Skripal seen boarding Moscow jet bound for Britain days before her poisoning
Allies in Europe and the United States sided with May's view and ordered the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War.
Russia retaliated by expelling Western diplomats. Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement and accused the British intelligence agencies of staging the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.
Despite the evidence pointing in its direction, Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement and even accused UK intelligence agencies of staging the attack to stoke up anti- Russian sentiments.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today said he thought Yulia Skripal was speaking under duress.
"We have not seen her or heard from her," he said when asked to comment on the story.
The Russian embassy added: "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.
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"Obviously, Yulia was reading a pre-written 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 in Russian and English confirm this impression.
"With all respect for Yulia’s privacy and security, this video does not discharge the UK authorities from their obligations under Consular Conventions.
"The UK is obliged to give us the opportunity to speak to Yulia directly in order to make sure that she is not held against her own will and is not speaking under pressure.
A TOXIC TALE
MARCH 3: Yulia Skripal flies from Moscow to Heathrow.
MARCH 4: Sergei and Yulia are seen slumped on a bench.
MARCH 11: A Kremlin hit list naming Sergei is leaked.
MARCH 12: The PM says they were poisoned with Russian-made nerve agent Novichok.
MARCH 14: She says Russia is culpable and expels 23 diplomats.
MARCH 17: Russia blasts “groundless accusations” and expels 23 British diplomats.
APRIL 5: Yulia says her “strength is growing daily”.
APRIL 6: Doctors say Sergei is “improving rapidly”.
APRIL 9: Yulia leaves hospital and moves to a secure location.
APRIL 11: She says she wants no help from Russian Embassy.
MAY 23: Yulia says she wants to return to Russia.
"So far, we have every reason to suspect the opposite."
However, Yulia’s family in Russia tonight welcomed her video appearance as proof she is “alive”.
Her cousin Viktoria, 45, said: “The whole family was incredibly happy to see the video as it least it confirms that she is alive. This alone is such a joy.”
The family had expressed fears - because she had not been seen since early March - that she and her father were dead.
“The main message for us was that she did say she wanted to be back home, back to Russia,” said Viktoria.
“I'm having so many calls from all over the world that I didn't even have time to watch it properly and discuss the video from the family until you sent me the file I saw Yulia.
“Judging by what I saw, it looks like she tracheostomy, you can see a scar on her neck."
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