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Sergei Skripal discharged from Salisbury District Hospital

Former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergei Skripal has been discharged from Salisbury District Hospital, England’s National Health Service reports

© EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. Former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of espionage for Great Britain, has been discharged from Salisbury District Hospital, England’s National Health Service (NHS England) said in a statement on Friday.

"Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were admitted to the hospital along with DS Nick Bailey after having been exposed to a nerve agent on 4 March 2018. All three have now been discharged," the statement reads.

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According to Salisbury District Hospital Chief Executive, Cara Charles-Barks, "it is fantastic news that Sergei Skripal is well enough to leave Salisbury District Hospital. That he, Yulia and DS Bailey have been able to leave us so soon after coming into contact with this nerve agent is thanks to the hard work, skill and professionalism of our clinicians, who provide outstanding care to all our patients, day in and day out."

"While these patients have now been discharged, their right to patient confidentiality remains and limits us from giving detailed accounts of the treatment these individuals received," NHS England pointed out. "However, treating people who are so acutely unwell, having been poisoned by nerve agents requires stabilizing them, keeping them alive until their bodies could produce more enzymes to replace those that had been poisoned," the statement adds.

Skripal saga

According to London, 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 on March 4. 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.

The British media initially reported that the Skripals were in critical condition and their odds of survival were minimal but both managed to recover. Yulia was discharged from the hospital in early April but her whereabouts have been unknown since then.

The Russian embassy in London many times requested the British authorities provide consular access to the Skripals who are both Russian citizens but all requests were rejected. "Considering all the facts, we now have more reasons to qualify this situation as an abduction of the two Russian nationals. We will continue to seek the truth and demand answers from the British side," Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko said in this regard.

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