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Skripal poisoning case

Niece of 'Novichok' victim writing book about their family

Viktoria Skripal said she plans to finish the book by February

Viktoria Skripal Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

Viktoria Skripal

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

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YAROSLAVL, November 14. /TASS/. Viktoria Skripal, the niece of former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal, is writing a book about their family and how it has been affected by the Salisbury poisoning saga.

"The book is in the works. It will not be just about the poisoning case, but about the impact of that situation on the family and on Sergey Viktorovich’s (Skripal) personality. Much has already been said about the poisoning," Skripal told TASS. "I am planning to finish the book by February," she added.

Viktoria Skripal is negotiating publication, but she refused to disclose the name of a publishing house. She has been absorbed in her book for two months.

Viktoria Skripal lives in Yaroslavl, some 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow, with her grandmother Elena, Sergey Skripal’s 90-year-old mother.

The women decided not to apply for a British visa until March 2019. "We will not be submitting documents until the end of the year. We to sort out thingsat home. Besides, if I submit documents, I should know the address of my destination, but I do not have an address where they (Yulia and Sergey Skripal) are staying now. Let us see. Let us wait for March, twelve months since the incident," Viktoria Skripal said.

According to Viktoria, Sergey Skripal’s mother has no travel passport due to her bad health and she has not been told about the Salisbury incident.

"There is no information about Yulia and Sergey Viktorovich. No one knows about their whereabouts. We text Yulia on her mobile which she used in her last call on July 24, but there is no answer," she said.

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"I am not giving up on an idea to go there (to Salisbury) but I want to know if I could see any of them," Viktoria said.

Salisbury’s ‘Novichok’ saga

According to London, on March 4 former Russian military intelligence officer Sergey Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia, were exposed to a Novichok-class nerve agent in Salisbury. The British government claimed that Russia was "highly likely" behind the incident. However, Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, adding that programs for developing this substance had never existed in the Soviet Union or Russia. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down failed to pinpoint the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.

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Skripal poisoning case

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