MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow wants explanations regarding Britain’s refusal to issue a visa to the niece of poisoned former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Friday.

The UK Home Office (interior ministry) said earlier on Friday that Viktoria Skripal, who had planned to travel to Britain to take Sergei’s daughter Yulia back to Russia, had been denied a British visa.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal are being treated in an English hospital after being found unconscious on March 4 after an attack with nerve agent, but both are no longer in critical condition.