By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, has been discharged from a hospital after more than a month, following a nerve agent attack in the southern English city of Salisbury.
The 33-year-old was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital, Dr. Christine Blanshard, the hospital's medical director confirmed in a news briefing on Tuesday.
Skripal, 66, and his daughter were admitted to a hospital after being found unconscious on March 4 in Salisbury.
“Mr. Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” specifically from the Novichok group, British Prime Minister Theresa May said following the attack.
“Both patients have responded exceptionally well to treatment we have been providing, but equally they are in different stages of their recovery,” Blanshard said.
“We have now discharged Yulia Skripal from Salisbury District Hospital. Yulia has asked privacy from the media and I want to reiterate her request,” she added.
Sergei “has also made a good progress” and “we hope that he will also leave the hospital in due course,” Blanshard said.
Yulia Skripal has been taken to a secure location, according to local media reports.
The incident has drawn comparisons to the 2006 death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko after drinking radioactive tea. Former KGB bodyguards identified as suspects in the murder denied any involvement.
Sergei Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a 2010 spy exchange between the U.S. and Russia. Before the exchange, he had been serving a 13-year prison term for leaking information to the British intelligence.
Russia missed a deadline set by London to explain how a certain type of military-grade nerve agent was used in the attack.
A world-wide expulsion of 121 Russian diplomats followed the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the U.K.
NATO and the EU have supported the U.K. and condemned the attack.
