Image caption
Ms Skripal and her father are in hospital in Salisbury after the attack
UK police have issued a statement on behalf of Russian spy Sergei Skripal’s daughter, the first since the pair were poisoned by a nerve agent in March.
The statement quoted Yulia Skripal as saying her “strength is growing daily”.
The news came hours after Russia TV aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation, which it says took place between Ms Skripal and her cousin.
Ms Skripal, 33, and her father are in hospital in Salisbury, southern England, where the attack took place.
Mr Skripal, 66, remains critically ill but stable.
The UK government has accused Russia of being behind the 4 March attack, but Russia’s ambassador in the UK said Moscow had no nerve agent stockpile.
The incident has sparked an international diplomatic crisis.
‘Respect my privacy’
Ms Skripal said she was grateful for the many messages of goodwill she had received.
“I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily,” the statement said.
“I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated,” it went on.
“Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism.
“I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you’ll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence.”
Earlier on Thursday Russian TV released a recorded phone call alleged to have taken place between Ms Skripal and her cousin Viktoria, who lives in Russia.
The alleged Yulia says: “Everything is ok. He [her father] is resting now, having a sleep. Everyone’s health is fine, there are no irreparable things. I will be discharged soon. Everything is ok.”
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Russia asks to visit Yulia Skripal in UK
Viktoria Skripal has said she hopes to travel to the UK to visit her relatives, if she can get a visa, but the alleged Yulia tells her that no-one will give her one.
Correspondents say that what the alleged Yulia says about her father “resting” does not chime with what we know of the Skripals’ health, and the conversation about the visa is strange.
However, Russian news agency Interfax also quoted the cousin as saying in an interview that they had spoken and that Yulia had told her that all was well.
She expressed surprise that the phone call had come a day after she had told media that she was not allowed to speak to Yulia, Interfax reported.
“Do you believe in coincidences? I don’t,” it quoted her as saying.
Viktoria is said to be one of their closest living relatives after a series of family deaths. Both Yulia and Viktoria are Russian citizens.
The hosts of the 60 Minute show on state-owned Rossiya 1 – Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva – said they were unable to confirm the authenticity of the phone call.
Viktoria: Hello?
“Yulia”: Hello. Can you hear me?
Viktoria: Yes, I can hear you.
“Yulia”: It is Yulia Skripal.
Viktoria: Oh, Yulka [diminutive of Yulia] it’s you! I can tell it’s you from your voice but I don’t understand. So, they gave you a telephone, did they?
“Yulia”: Yes, yes.
Viktoria: Thanks God! Yulyasha [diminutive of Yulia], is everything okay?
“Yulia”: Everything’s ok, everything’s fine.
Viktoria: Look, if tomorrow I get a [British] visa, I’ll come to you on Monday.
“Yulia”: Vika, no-one will give you a visa.
Viktoria: Well I thought so too. Oh well.
“Yulia“: Most likely.
Viktoria: If they do, I need you to tell me whether I can visit you or not, tell me that I can.
“Yulia”: I don’t think so, that’s the situation at the moment, we’ll sort it out later.
Viktoria: I know, I know.
“Yulia”: Later, we’ll get it sorted later, everything’s fine, we’ll see later.
Viktoria: Is that your phone?
“Yulia”: It’s a temporary phone. Everything’s fine, but we’ll see how it goes, we’ll decide later. You know what the situation is here. Everything is fine, everything is solvable, everyone is recovering and is alive.
Viktoria: Understood. Is everything ok with your dad?
“Yulia”: Everything’s ok. He’s resting now, having a sleep. Everyone’s health is fine, there’s nothing that can’t be put right. I’ll be discharged soon. Everything is ok.
Viktoria: Kisses, babes.
“Yulia”: Bye.
The recording was reportedly made on the morning of 5 April
The incident, which the UK blames on Russia, has led to worsening relations between Moscow and many Western countries, with more than 150 diplomats expelled on each side.
Speaking shortly after the alleged conversation was released, Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko denied statements by UK officials that Russia did not respond to the poisoning allegations immediately.
He read out a letter which he said Russia had sent denying involvement, adding that claims that Russia had a nerve agent stockpile were not true.
The United States is expected to impose additional sanctions against Russia by Friday, according to U.S. officials.
The sanctions are economic and designed to target oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin, the officials said. The final number of Russians facing punitive action remains fluid, the U.S. officials said, but is expected to include at least a half-dozen people under sanction powers given to the president by Congress.
In recent weeks, Trump’s national security advisers have pushed for more sanctions after the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England, interference in the U.S. 2016 elections and a cyberattack described as the most destructive and costly in history.
Officials spoke about the sanctions on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss pending actions.
On Tuesday night, outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster called on the United States to take a tougher line against Moscow, saying, “We have failed to impose sufficient costs.”
The remark came hours after President Trump said in a White House news conference that “nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.”
Russian officials, meanwhile, have expressed exasperation with the United States. Moscow’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said the “atmosphere in Washington is poison.”
“It’s a toxic atmosphere,” he told NBC News.
The United States is expected to target individuals on a list of influential Russian political and business leaders that the Treasury Department released in January, officials said.
The United States could also impose sanctions based on powers granted by Congress to target anyone conducting significant business with Russian intelligence and defense sectors.
“If they do something tough like this, it may go some distance in reassuring angry members of Congress and the public who are looking at the midterms and wondering if this administration is focused on the Russian threat and taking moves to address it,” said Liz Rosenberg, a former Treasury official who is at the Center for a New American Security.
White House and State Department spokesmen declined to comment.
The pending move from Treasury comes as the Trump administration takes an increasingly tough posture toward Moscow at the urging of the president’s senior aides and top U.S. allies.
Last week, the United States expelled 60 Russian spies and diplomats in response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, and his daughter, the largest expulsion of Russians in U.S. history.
In early March, the administration also slapped fresh sanctions on Russian government hackers and spy agencies for interfering in the 2016 election and the cyberattack.
In recent days, the Trump administration has contemplated additional actions to publicly condemn Russian aggression. Last Friday, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman Jr., told administration officials that he wanted to hold a news conference in Moscow about Russia’s expulsion of U.S. diplomats from the country, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Ultimately, the administration chose not to hold the news conference for reasons that remain unclear, but Huntsman did appear in a YouTube video explaining Washington’s decision.
In Congress, the Trump administration continues to face pressure from Russia hawks in both parties to take aggressive action against Putin. In an interview, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said that while he admired the administration’s moves, he believed it had been tried by other administrations and had failed. He said the United States needed to help countries that rely on Russia for oil and gas find new opportunities.
“We have to hit them by taking away their customers,” he said.
