Yulia Skripal turns down help from Russian Embassy and speaks out about her father's condition

'I do not wish to avail myself of their services'

Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned alongside her father in Salisbury last month, has turned down an offer of help from the Russian Embassy.

“I do not wish to avail myself of their services,” she said.

She added: “I find myself in a totally different life than the ordinary one I left just over a month ago and I am seeking to come to terms with my prospects , whilst also recovering from this attack on me.”

Her father, Sergei Skripal, she said, was still “seriously ill”, adding that he remained in the care of Salisbury District Hospital.

Praising hospital staff for their “kindness” and “obvious clinical expertise”, the 33-year-old said she was “still suffering with the effects of the nerve agent used against us.”

She added: “I find myself in a totally different life than the ordinary one I left just over a month ago, and I am seeking to come to terms with my prospects, whilst also recovering from this attack on me.

“I have specially trained officers available to me, who are helping to take care of me and to explain the investigative processes that are being undertaken. I have access to friends and family, and I have been made aware of my specific contacts at the Russian Embassy who have kindly offered me their assistance in any way they can. At the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services, but, if I change my mind I know how to contact them.”

While “not yet strong enough to give a full media interview,” she said: “Until that time, I want to stress that no-one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves. I thank my cousin Viktoria for her concern for us, but ask that she does not visit me or try to contact me for the time being. Her opinions and assertions are not mine and they are not my father’s.”

Ms Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei, a former MI6 double agent, in Salisbury in March.

The pair were left fighting for their lives after being found unconscious on a park bench in the Wiltshire city.

Mr Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was convicted of high treason in his homeland after being found guilty of spying for Britain in 2004. He was imprisoned for six years until he was traded in a spy swap with Russia.

The British government has accused Russia of being behind the poisoning an claimed the military grade nerve agent could only have been made there.

Russia has strenuously denied any involvement and the country’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested the UK could have carried out the 4 March attack.

“Experts tell us that it may well be beneficial to the British special services, who are known for their ability to act with licence to kill,” he said.