UK: Ex-spy Sergei Skripal discharged from hospital

Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – After being seriously injured in a nerve agent attack in England this March, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal has been discharged from hospital, British health authorities said Friday.

“It is fantastic news that Sergei Skripal is well enough to leave Salisbury District Hospital,” Salisbury District Hospital CEO Cara Charles-Barks said in a statement more than two months after the attack.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia 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,” British Prime Minister Theresa May said following the attack.

“We have been able to discharge Sergei Skripal. This is an important stage in his recovery, which will now take place away from the hospital,” said, Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing.

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 British intelligence.

Yulia Skripal, his daughter, was discharged from the same hospital in April.

Nick Bailey, a local police officer who was also affected by the nerve agent while giving first aid to the Skripals, was discharged earlier.

After authorities concluded that Russia was “highly likely” responsible for the attack, 23 Russian diplomats were expelled from the U.K., and over 120 Russian diplomats worldwide.

Supporting Britain, NATO and the EU have both condemned the attack.