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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Skripal Leaves Hospital for 1st Time Since Poisoning

Police officers guard a cordon around a police tent covering the spot where former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill following in Salisbury, England, March 7. AP

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who Britain says was poisoned with a nerve agent more than two months ago, triggering a diplomatic crisis with Russia, has been discharged from hospital.

"It is fantastic news that Sergei Skripal is well enough to leave Salisbury District Hospital," Cara Charles-Barks, the hospital's chief executive, said in a statement on Friday.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain has accused Russia of being behind the nerve agent attack and Western governments including the United States have expelled over 100 Russian diplomats. Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning and has retaliated in kind.

Yulia was discharged last month and moved to a secure location.

Britain and international chemicals weapons inspectors have said the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.

The former Russian military intelligence officer, who passed information on Russia's agents in Europe to British security services, was imprisoned in Russia.

He moved to Britain as part of a spy swap in 2010 and has lived there ever since.

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