The daughter of the former Russian double agent who was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent says her recovery has been slow and painful and that she hopes to return to Russia someday.
Yulia Skripal, whose father, Sergei, was also poisoned, made the comments in a handwritten statement and video released to the media on May 23.
Both Skripals were hospitalized in critical condition in early March after being found unconscious in the English city of Salisbury.
Yulia was released from the hospital last month and her father last week. Since her release, she’s been under the protection of British law enforcement.
"The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking,” Skripal said in a statement. “My life has been turned upside down."
"We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful," she said in her statement.
Britain blamed Russia for poisoning the two with a nerve agent known as Novichok and expelled dozens of diplomats in response.
Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.
In an interview with TV channel NTV on May 24, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “We aren’t sure about [Yulia Skripal’s] current state, whether she is being pressured, where she is staying, whether she made any statements, and whether she did these statements voluntarily."
The Salisbury incident was the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War II.
A former officer with Russian military intelligence, Sergei Skripal was arrested in the early 2000s and accused of passing secrets to British intelligence. He was later pardoned and allowed to leave Russia for Britain in a 2010 spy swap.
