Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA International Desk: The doctors who treated a Russian former spy and his daughter after they were poisoned with a nerve agent in Britain say they don’t know what the pair’s long term health outlook is – and initially feared the incident could have been much worse.
Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russia’s military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain, and daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Staff at Salisbury hospital, where they were treated, told news agency that some started to wonder whether they too would fall victim to the nerve agent.
Asked about the long term impact of the poisoning on the Skripals health, the hospital’s medical director, Christine Blanshard, said the prognosis was uncertain.
Britain has said that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals, and western governments, including the United States, have expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats. Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning and retaliated in kind.
Yulia Skripal spoke to Reuters last week, saying her recovery had been ‘slow and extremely painful’ and that she was lucky to have survived.
Hospital staff too said that they expected the Skripals would die as a result of the poisoning, reported news agency.
