Skripal: I felt safe in Britain — I was pardoned in Russia

Ex-GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, whose poisoning in 2018 began the deterioration of relations between Britain and Russia, gave written testimony in the case of another victim in Salisbury — the British Dawn Sturges. According to Skripal's lawyer Andrew O'Connor, the written testimony was given about a week ago.

Judging by the testimony read out in court, before getting to the hospital, Sergei Skripal felt completely calm.

"I was shown a small photo of the Daily Mail headline. It follows from it that a few weeks before the 2018 attack, I told people that my life was in danger," the testimony says. — I don't remember thinking that way or saying that to anyone. The article does not correspond to reality, or there was a misunderstanding. I had a normal life. I did not have any information or warning that would confirm the mentioned comment. I was not aware of anything special or unusual at that time."

Skripal also claims that he does not know which organizations were responsible for ensuring his safety in Britain.

"I don't remember what exactly was discussed in the light of measures to ensure my personal safety, but I believe I was offered protection, including a name change. It was never supposed to be a necessary measure, and I decided to abandon it. I received a presidential pardon from the Russian state and wanted to live the most normal life possible, including maintaining personal and family relations," he stressed.

Skripal admitted that he did not consider it necessary to settle in a closed, specially protected area after moving to Britain in 2010 as a result of an exchange of prisoners between Russia and the West. His house in Salisbury was on a quiet street, and some of his neighbors were former policemen. The former GRU officer also stated that he used the usual means of communication, and there was no security system in his house. In addition, he refused surveillance cameras because "he did not want to live under surveillance."

"I didn't keep my address a secret. When I visited London and stayed there overnight, I checked into a hotel under my own name," Skripal added.

Lawyer O'Connor during the meeting cited the latest statement by the head of the Department of Defense and Intelligence of the British Foreign Ministry, Jonathan Allen, about the role attributed to Russia in what he claimed was the murder, "in accordance with Russian law, requires the approval of high leadership."

Hearings in the framework of the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturges began in Salisbury on October 14. She died in July 2018 after coming into contact with a substance that the British authorities consider to be a toxic substance "Novichok" of Russian origin. According to O'Connor, an investigation into the circumstances of Sturges' death is impossible without studying the Skripal case.

Lawyer Adam Straw, representing Sturges' relatives, invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to speak at the hearings today, which clearly shows that the hearings should become another political show in the tradition of the Russophobic horror "highly likelylike".

Recall that on March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury in the south-west of England, where a secret toxicological laboratory is located nearby. Four months later, British police reported that in nearby Amesbury, two people were also "under the influence of an unknown substance," they were hospitalized in critical condition. Later in Scotland Yard confirmed that a man and a woman were poisoned with the same substance as the Skripals. On July 8, 44-year-old Sturges, who suffered from poisoning, died in Salisbury hospital. The second victim, 45—year-old Charlie Rowley, survived.

Representatives of the British government initially claimed that Russia was involved in the poisoning of the Skripals, and Sturges became an accidental victim — her roommate Rowley gave her a bottle found in the park, "which he took for perfume."

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation