A former Russian spy who was the victim of a nerve agent attack in March in the United Kingdom, was released from the hospital Friday, according to reports.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, England, on March 4. Scientists with the British government later concluded they were exposed to novichok, a military-grade nerve agent.
The Salisbury District Hospital said last month Sergei Skripal was no longer in critical condition.
Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, confirmed Skripal was discharged and called his release “an important stage in his recovery.”
“Treating him and the other two people poisoned by this nerve agent, while still providing outstanding care to the other patients who rely on our hospital, has been a huge and unprecedented challenge that I’m proud our staff at Salisbury Hospital have risen to,” Wilkinson said, according to the UK Press Association.
Yulia Skripal was released from the hospital in early April.
British police determined in March that Sergei and Yulia Skripal first came into contact with the nerve agent at the front door of his home, and the highest concentration of the poison was found there.
The British government concluded Russia was behind the poisoning, and the leaders of the U.S., France, and Germany agreed. The Russian government, however, has denied any involvement in the attack.
The nerve agent attack prompted a coordinated response from foreign leaders around the world.
President Trump ordered 60 Russian intelligence officials from the U.S. and announced the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle. British Prime Minister Theresa May also expelled 23 Russian diplomats following the nerve agent attack.
Following news that Skripal had been discharged from the hospital, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wishes the former spy “good health” and again cast doubt that Russia was behind the response.
“I think if, as our British colleagues have insisted, a military-grade poison had been used, the man would have died on the spot,” Putin said during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sochi. “A military-grade poison is so powerful that a person dies instantly, or in several seconds, or maybe minutes. Thank God he recovered and that he left [the] hospital. I hope he will stay alive and unharmed.”
