"The embassy deeply understands Viktoria Skripal’s cry for help, as to this day, we have no information regarding the fate and health of her relatives - Sergei and Yulia. We have to state that a year after the events in Salisbury, the British officials and law enforcement agencies still have not provided any official results of the ongoing investigation of this incident. Multiple requests of the Russian side to cooperate in the investigation of the poisoning of our citizens have been left without a response, and the investigation is carried out in the atmosphere of total secrecy. In violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the bilateral Consular Convention of 1965, the representatives of the embassy have not been provided access to the Russian citizens to this day, first and foremost to ensure that they are alive and well, and that they are not under pressure."

The embassy stressed that Viktoria Skripal’s intention "once again disproves the statements of British officials claiming that Sergei and Yulia Skripal are not in isolation and are in contact with their relatives and friends."

The Salisbury incident

On March 4, 2018, ex-GRU colonel Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a nerve agent allegedly developed in Russia, London rushed to accuse Moscow of being involved in the incident. The Russian side flatly rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down has failed to identify the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals. The Russian Investigative Committee initiated criminal proceedings in connection with an attempt on Yulia Skripal’s life.