Yulia Skripal paid tribute to staff at Salisbury hospital in her first public statement since she was discharged last month following a nerve agent attack that left her in a coma for 20 days Dylan Martinez/ReutersYulia Skripal has said she is lucky to be alive and intends to return home to Russia after she and her father Sergei, a former MI6 spy, were left critically ill by a nerve agent attack. Speaking publicly for the first time since her discharge from hospital last month, she said that her life had been turned upside down. She said she did not, however, require the assistance she has been offered by the Russian embassy. “We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination,” she told Reuters. The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking.”Ms Srkipal, 33, gave statements in English and Russian from the secret location in…

Source: The Times May 23, 2018 17:48 UTC