LONDON, February 18. /TASS/. The British authorities have refused to comment on UK media reports saying the health of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergey Skripal has deteriorated.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where a TASS correspondent sought comments on Monday, redirected him to the Metropolitan Police. A similar response came from the police of Wiltshire, the county where Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in March 2018. It said the counter-terrorism unit of Scotland Yard was dealing with the case. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police refused to comment on reports back on Sunday, saying they had no information to this respect.

On Sunday, The Sunday Times reported citing "a well-informed intelligence source" that Sergei Skripal’s condition "has taken a downturn, even though it is not deemed critical" and that he had been receiving medical care at his home. The source added that no one could predict what will happen to the former Russian military intelligence officer since there is little that is known about the long-term impact of the nerve agent.

In comments on the story, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday it was another example of "a managed leak" and a proof that the British media have links with the special services.

"It’s another example of a ‘managed leak’," she wrote in her Facebook post. "It is another evidence of a direct link between the UK special services and the media." The Russian Embassy in London, for its tern, expressed concerns over the fate of the Russian nationals

According to London's version, on March 4, 2018, former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei 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 had poisoned the Skripals.

On June 30, 2018, two British nationals - Dawn Sturgess and Charles Rowley, a heroin addict - were taken to hospital in Amesbury in critical condition. A Scotland Yard officer who led the investigation speculated later that they might have been poisoned with a Novichok class nerve agent. On July 8, it was announced that Sturgess had died in hospital.