Yulia Skripal, the daughter of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, has been discharged from hospital, doctors have said.



Just over a month after she and her father were found collapsed on a park bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire, after being poisoned with a nerve agent, medics confirmed she had left Salisbury district hospital.

Skripal, 33, flew to the UK on 3 March, the day before she and her father are believed to have been poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. She released a statement on Friday saying her strength was “growing daily”.



Sergei Skripal, 66, is also making good progress and doctors hope he will be able to leave hospital “in due course”.

Quick Guide What is novichok? Show Novichok refers to a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s to elude international restrictions on chemical weapons. Like other nerve agents, they are organophosphate compounds, but the chemicals used to make them, and their final structures, are considered classified in the UK, the US and other countries. The most potent of the novichok substances are considered to be more lethal than VX, the most deadly of the familiar nerve agents, which include sarin, tabun and soman. Novichok agents work in a similar way, by massively over-stimulating muscles and glands. Treatment for novichok exposure would be the same as for other nerve agents, namely with atropine, diazepam and potentially drugs called oximes. The chemical structures of novichok agents were made public in 2008 by Vil Mirzayanov, a former Russian scientist living in the US, but the structures have never been publicly confirmed. It is thought they can be made in different forms, including as a dust aerosol. The novichoks are known as binary agents because they only become lethal after mixing two otherwise harmless components. According to Mirzayanov, they are 10 to 100 times more toxic than conventional nerve agents. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Europe

Speaking outside the hospital on Tuesday, its medical director, Christine Blanshard, said: “We have now discharged Yulia from Salisbury district hospital. Yulia has asked for privacy from the media and I want to reiterate her request.

“I also want to take this opportunity to wish Yulia well. This is not the end of her treatment but marks a significant milestone.

“Her father has also made good progress. On Friday I announced he was no longer in a critical condition. Although he is recovering more slowly than Yulia, we hope that he too will be able to leave hospital in due course.”

Blanshard gave further insight into how the nerve agent attacked the two patients and the treatment they received. “In the four weeks since the incident in the city centre, both have received round-the-clock care from our clinicians, who have been able to draw on advice and support from world-leading experts in the field,” she said.

“Nerve agents work by attaching themselves to the particular enzymes in the body, which then stop the nerves from functioning. This results in symptoms such as sickness and hallucinations. Our job in treating the patients is to stabilise them, ensuring that they can breathe and blood can continue to circulate.

“We then need to use a variety of different drugs to support the patients until they could create more enzymes to replace those affected by the poisoning. We also use specialised decontamination techniques to remove any residual toxins.

“Both patients have been responding exceptionally well to the treatment we’ve been providing, but equally both patients are at different stages of their recovery.”

Yulia Skripal’s departure from hospital comes nearly three weeks after DS Nick Bailey was discharged after he was affected by the nerve agent.

The testimony of the Skripals will be crucial in establishing the credibility of the government’s claim that it was “highly likely” the Russian state targeted them with the nerve agent.



Moscow has waged a furious media battle in an attempt to discredit this account. It is likely it will want to bring Yulia Skripal back to Russia.

In its first response to the latest news, the Russian embassy in London tweeted its congratulations to Yulia Skripal but suggested she could be acting under duress:

We congratulate Yulia Skripal on her recovery. Yet we need urgent proof that what is being done to her is done on her own free will. — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 10, 2018

The embassy then went on to suggest the Skripals’ pet dogs had been burned as part of wider attempts by the UK authorities to destroy evidence.

Skripal pets starved to death and corpses burnt, bench where the victims were found removed, plans about pulling down their home and even restaurants visited. UK is destroying important and valuable evidence.https://t.co/09t1eEUBWr pic.twitter.com/jO8u6XUNCY — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 10, 2018

Responding to reports that the Skripals may ultimately be granted settled status in other countries such as the US or Australia, the embassy said such a move would be seen as “an abduction”:

Secret resettlement of Mr and Ms Skripal, barred from any contact with their family will be seen as an abduction or at least as their forced isolation.https://t.co/UuTxgZGKig pic.twitter.com/Ow3d61T3ni — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 10, 2018

Asked for her reaction to the news, Theresa May said: “Well, obviously I welcome the fact that Yulia Skripal has been discharged from hospital and I wish her the best for her continuing recovery, and I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the staff at the hospital in Salisbury who have looked after her and her father so well.”

The Russian and British governments have continued their war of words over who is to blame for the Skripals’ poisoning. On Sunday, Boris Johnson accused the Kremlin and Russia’s state-owned media of inventing 29 different theories about the Salisbury attack. “No other government devotes as much time and effort to the business of trying to sabotage or discredit international inquiries,” the foreign secretary said.

Officials rejected a request from the Russian embassy for a meeting with Johnson to discuss the poisonings. In a statement on its website, the embassy said its dealings with Britain over the issue had been “utterly unsatisfactory”.