Skripal's Niece Describes Year After Sergei's Poisoning as Full of Suffering

YAROSLAVL (Sputnik) - The niece of Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned in the United Kingdom on 4 March 2018 together with his daughter, told Sputnik that the year after the incident has been nothing short of suffering for her family but she still did not lose hope of finding out the truth about the attack and finally getting to see her relatives.

"It has been a year of suffering, which has turned everything upside down", Viktoria Skripal said, adding that she still had no information about either Sergei or Yulia Skripal.

According to Viktoria, Sergei Skripal's mother has been told that her son and granddaughter had gone missing in the United Kingdom and their whereabouts remained unknown.

Viktoria Skripal believes that no new information regarding her relatives will be disclosed over next year because London has nothing to gain from it.

"But we will still fight to learn the truth. Hope springs eternal", Viktoria Skripal concluded.

The Skripals were found unconscious on a bench near a shopping centre in the southwestern UK city of Salisbury. London has alleged that Moscow orchestrated their poisoning, using a military-grade nerve agent A234, reportedly related to the ones developed in the Soviet Union. According to UK authorities, the poisoning was allegedly carried out by Russian nationals Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who, London claims, are working for the Russian intelligence.

READ MORE: Skripal House in Salisbury Declared Safe After Decontamination — Police

While the incident and London's claims about the Kremlin's involvement in the attack sparked international uproar, Moscow has categorically denied all allegations, arguing that the Skripal affair was falling apart due to the lack of evidence proving Russia's involvement. Russian authorities have also repeatedly pointed out that London turned down Moscow's requests to get access both to the investigation and the poisoned Russian nationals.

According to the Russian Embassy in London, no one has personally seen either Sergei or Yulia Skripal since the attack, and given the fact that Russian diplomats were denied access to the Skripals in violation of international norms, it cannot be stated with certainty that they are even alive.

Speaking in an interview with RT and Sputnik editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, Petrov and Boshirov have also dismissed claims about their involvement in the attack, saying that they worked in the fitness industry and visited Salisbury as simple tourists.