Sergei Skripal requires live-in nurse after novichok attack, says daughter

Ex-Russian agent now needs a tracheal tube to breathe, Yulia Skripal tells cousin

A former Russian spy who was poisoned in the UK by the nerve agent novichok has a live-in nurse and still requires a breathing tube, his daughter has reportedly said.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury in March 2018.

Yulia Skripal told her cousin Viktoria she had fully recovered from the poisoning, but that her father was still “in a tight spot” as he continues a long recovery from his near-death experience, according to Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.

The transcript of the conversation first published by the newspaper showed the poisoned pair live in separate flats due to the pandemic, with Ms Skripal saying of her father: “He feels fine but I don’t see him because of the lockdown.”

The former Russian agent had a tracheotomy following the attack and now uses a tracheal tube to breathe, she added.

Mr Skripal’s niece Viktoria confirmed to The Daily Telegraph she received a phone call from Yulia Skripal last month with an update on her uncle’s condition.

The Skripals survived the 2018 attack, but the incident later claimed the life of Dawn Sturgess after she came into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack before being discarded.

Her partner, Charlie Rowley, was left seriously ill but recovered. The flat where Ms Sturgess was fatally poisoned was demolished in late October.

Two Russian nationals have been accused of travelling to the UK to try to murder Mr Skripal with novichok. The suspects, known by aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were seen on CCTV footage in Salisbury the day before the attack.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement, with Vladimir Putin claiming the two suspects were civilians.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is recovering in Germany after being poisoned in Russia by a nerve agent in August, accused the Russian president of being behind the attack.

Earlier this week a group of 56 nations issued a statement as the start of the annual meeting of the OPCW's member states urging Moscow to disclose “in a swift and transparent manner the circumstances of this chemical weapons attack.”