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It's A Miracle!! Sergei Skripal discharged from hospital after being poisoned by ‘deadly’ agent
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By Staff Writers | RT
RT.com
Saturday, May 19, 2018
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https://www.rt.com/uk/427080-skripal-salisbury-nhs-poison/ |
Just over two months after reportedly being targeted by 'one of the most deadly nerve agents ever produced', former Russian spy Sergei Skripal has been discharged from a British hospital.
Doctors
gave no details on the condition of Skripal, and his current location
is not known at this time. The Russian double-agent was poisoned in
Salisbury alongside his daughter, Yulia, in early March. Her recovery
was much quicker and she has been out of hospital since last month.
However,
Yulia Skripal has not been seen in public since she was discharged, and
the only public statement from her was issued by British police. The
Russian embassy says it has been refused access to the Russian citizens.
Citing
patient confidentiality, a hospital spokesperson said they were unable
to comment on any details about patients, but said: “Treating people who
are so acutely unwell, having been poisoned by nerve agents, requires
stabilizing them, keeping them alive until their bodies could produce
more enzymes to replace those that had been poisoned.”
Following
the poisoning on March 4, UK Prime Minister Theresa May stated the
government’s chemical laboratory at Porton Down had identified the
“military-grade” nerve agent used in the attack as the A234 agent, a
type of Soviet Union-developed Novichok.
Speaking in the House
of Commons, May suggested that either the Russian government was behind
the attack or lost control of its supplies, allowing the “potentially
catastrophically damaging nerve agent” to fall into the hands of others.
Foreign
Secretary Boris Johnson had backed May’s claims that it was Novichok,
explaining to Deutsche Welle that Porton Down scientists had confirmed
to him that the nerve agent was used.
But two weeks later, these
claims were debunked by Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defense
Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, who said
scientists had not “identified the precise source.”
Following
Aitkenhead’s comments, the Foreign Office released a statement saying it
had been “clear from the very beginning” that Porton Down had
identified the type of substance as Novichok.
Novichok refers to a
group of Soviet-era nerve agents developed in the 1970s and 1980s.
Other countries, including Iran and the Czech Republic, also had
versions of the nerve agent, with the former successfully synthesizing
Novichok in 2016 alongside the OPCW.
Czech Republic’s President
Milos Zeman, said Novichok agents were produced at a military research
center in November 2017. Expanding on his comments, the Czech defense
ministry noted that while it had developed a Novichok type agent it was
different from the one allegedly used in Salisbury.
In Germany a
sample of a Novichok was reportedly obtained by the country's BND spy
agency in 1990s, according to a joint report by German newspaper
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the weekly Die Zeit and broadcasters NDR and WDR.
The
report notes that the sample was analyzed in Sweden after which the
chemical formula was given to the German government and military.
The
latest reports of European Novichok sampling and production have now
received much attention in the British media. The drop-off in coverage
follows reports that British media outlets were given one or two
D-notices, which are government requests that particular information is
not reported by the media on grounds of national security. The media
does not have to agree, but almost always does.
Yulia and Sergei
Skripal were reportedly in a critical condition for weeks following the
attack, at one point, their doctors feared that they would suffer brain
damage if they managed to survive. The pair's health subsequently
improved rapidly, with Yulia being discharged in early April.
Questions
over the Skripals’ current whereabouts have also been raised. Yulia
Skripal has not been seen since her release, prompting claims by
relatives that she has been ‘detained’ by the UK and prevented from
speaking freely.
Her cousin Viktoria was also denied a visa by
the Home Office when she tried to visit the Skripals following the
incident. A second attempt made to apply for a visa last month was also
denied, with the Home Office saying that her application “did not meet
the requirements of immigration rules.”
The British government
insists that the Kremlin was behind the attack on the Skripals, who were
reportedly poisoned by a nerve agent administered on the door handle of
Sergei’s home in Salisbury. Russia has consistently denied any
involvement.
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