The daughter of counter-spy Sergei Skripal, Yulia Skripal, who survived the nerve agent attack that Great Britain accuses Russia of, which Moscow categorically rejects, despite everything hopes to return home one day - to Russia.
"As I try to cope with the disappointing changes I am facing both physically and emotionally, I live day by day, I want to help care for my father until he is fully recovered. Longer term – I hope to return to my country" , said Yulia Skripal in a written statement in English for the British agency Reuters.
Julia and her father Sergey were found unconscious on March 4 on a bench in the British city of Salisbury, after which they were hospitalized.
Skripaleva was in a coma for 20 days, and she was released from the local hospital in Salisbury five weeks after the poisoning and has not had contact with the media since then, Tanjug recalls.
She came into contact with the British agency through the police, and she also spoke in a short video from a secret location in London, under the protection of the UK state.
"I woke up to the news that we were both poisoned. The fact that a nerve agent was used for this is shocking. My life has been turned upside down," said Julija in her first media address after the poisoning.
She spoke in Russian, and for the written version she submitted, she said that she wrote it to herself in both Russian and English.
The Russian ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, has repeatedly demanded to see Yulia, who was born in Russia and is a Russian citizen.
"I am grateful for the offers of help from the Russian embassy, but at the moment I do not want to use their services," said Julia.
After speaking briefly on camera, she declined to answer further questions.
She was wearing a light blue summer dress, and a scar was visible on her neck.
"I want to repeat what I already mentioned in the announcement, which is that no one speaks for me, nor for my father, except for ourselves," said Julija.
Sergei Skripal was released from the hospital on May 18 and is no longer in critical condition, the hospital said.
"I don't want to describe the details, but the hospital treatment was long, painful and depressing," Julia said in Russian, adding that she was very grateful to the Salisbury hospital staff as well as the people who helped them on the day they were poisoned.
The poisoning was followed by accusations made by Great Britain and Russia against each other, and then mutual expulsions of diplomats from Britain and its allied countries on the one hand, and from Russia on the other.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the British agency, said he thinks Yulia Skripal is speaking under duress.
"We have neither seen nor heard her," said Peskov, when asked to comment on this story.
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