When 33-year-old Yulia Skripal and her father, former Russian military intelligence agent Sergei, were poisoned by nerve agent Novichok on British soil in March, it sent shockwaves around the world.
The first known use of a military nerve agent on European soil since World War II, news.com.au reports, it resulted in Russian diplomats being expelled from multiple countries, including Australia, while Yulia and her father spent six weeks in hospital.
Yulia was in a coma for 20 days. She has now given her first press conference with Reuters, at an undisclosed location in London, where she is under protection.
“I woke to the news that we had both been poisoned,” she said. “The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking. My life has been turned upside down.”
“We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination,” she began. “Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful.”
“I don’t want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful and depressing.”
She added that despite the atrocity committed against her and her father, she still hopes to return to Russia one day.
“As I try to come to terms with the devastating changes thrust upon me physically and emotionally, I take one day at a time and want to help care for my dad until his full recovery. In the longer term I hope to return home to my country.”
The BBC reports that Yulia’s father had betrayed dozens of Russian agents to British intelligence service MI6 in his career.
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