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Skripal’s niece confident to have had telephone call from cousin Yulia

Yulia was calm and speaking with her voice, there was no one who would speak for her, Viktoria said

MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal’s niece Viktoria is confident that it was her cousin Yulia Skripal she had had a telephone call from.

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"It was Yulia’s voice," Viktoria told Rossiya-1’s 60 Minutes program. "She was calm and speaking with her voice, there was no one who would speak for her. It was Yulia Skripal herself," she added.

Earlier on Thursday, the call’s recording, provided by Viktoria, was made public during the 60 Minutes program. However, according to the program’s hosts, the recording has not been verified yet.

On Thursday, the UK’s Metropolitan Police issued a statement on behalf of Yulia Skirpal, in which she said: "I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily."

"I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you’ll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence," she added.

Skripal saga

On March 4, Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, 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 Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow 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.

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