Yulia Skripal says she hopes to return to Russia “in the longer term”

Yulia Skripal, daughter of former Russian spy Serge Skripal, spoke to TV reporters Wednesday for the first time since she and her father succumbed to a poison attack in Salisbury two months ago. Speaking from a secret location in London, she said: “We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful.” She went on to say: “The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking. My life has been turned upside down.” Asked about her plans, Yulia Skripal said: “In the longer term, I hope to return home to my country.” She then stressed that “no one speaks for me, or for my father but ourselves.”

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded. “We want Yulia Skripal to know that there wasn’t a day that went by that the Russian foreign ministry, the Russian embassy in London, did not try to arrange contact with her to “ascertain that she was not being held there against her will, that another person was not pretending to be her, and find out about her condition and her father’s condition from the source.”

Moscow has strongly denied British accusations of having orchestrated the poison attack on the Skripals. British investigators are still trying to piece together Skripal’s recent movements before the attack.