Sergei Skripal's relatives fear he may be dead

According to the official narrative Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the nerve agent novichok March 4 this year in Salisbury. The attack has been blamed on the Russians by the US and UK among others.

Sergei's relatives concerned he may have died

Victoria Skripal, Sergei's niece told the Russian news agency RIA of the relatives' fears that Sergei was dead since none of them had heard from him. The relatives have not heard from the daughter Yulia either since the end of July when she called to wish her grandmother a happy birthday. In that conversation Yulia said that her father could be in touch with them as soon as he got better from his tracheotomy.

When asked why his relatives thought he was dead, Victoria said that Yulia said he would call in three days. She said he loves his mother and would call at any convenient opportunity. Victoria said she found it suspicious as well that there were no pictures of Sergei in the hospital ward.

Victoria also noted that neither relatives nor the press had been allowed to see Sergei. Victoria said: “They didn't let us in. I do not understand what’s so terrible if we see him?” Victoria said.

Both Yulia and then Sergei have been discharged from the hospital. However, there was no interview with Sergei since he came out and it has not been revealed where he is.

Victoria's interview with Moskovky Komsomolets

In another interview with the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, Victoria claimed that if her uncle were not dead, the reason why he is being kept out of the public eye is because the UK authorities have no evidence to confirm their claim that Russia is responsible for the poisonings. “It’s either he is dead, or they have nothing to show. He could have refused, of course, but here I think that, just like in Litvinenko’s case, they would have let us see him if, of course, they had anything to show.”

I expect that although Sergei is alive the authorities do not want reporters or anyone else prying him with questions about what happened to him and his daughter on the day of the poisoning. No one has been allowed to question Yulia either about what happened that day. Without doubt the authorities have interrogated both about what happened. If their narratives supported the official version of events they would have immediately appeared in the press. But there are no press reports of either of the two's version of what happened. Everything is being kept carefully under wraps.

The interview with Yulia

There was a so-called interview with Julia back in May discussed in a Digital Journal article on May 25.The interview involved no questions just Yulia reading off a script. However, she did say that she eventually hoped to return to Russia. It is quite surprising she was allowed to say this and would say it if she believed the official narrative that the Russians were responsible for the attack on her and her father. She said nothing about events just before she and Sergei were found. Yulia was released from hospital on April 9th, so no doubt authorities felt under pressure to release some further information.

Russia also concerned about lack of information concerning the Skripals

Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry , Maria Zhakarova said: “We find it highly suspicious and outrageous that there’s no information on the state of health and whereabouts of Russian citizens Yulia Skripal and her father Sergei.” Zhakarova noted that Sergei's niece had said that the relatives were concerned that he was dead.

Sergei released from hospital back in May

The release was discussed in a Digital Journal article of May 18. There have been no interviews with Sergei and his location is unknown. Russian authorities have demanded to see both him and Yulia but to no avail. Reporters seem quite accepting of the fact that they have had no interviews with them even though their views of what happened are surely of the utmost significance in order to have a complete picture of what happened. However such information is no doubt a danger to the official account. There has been too much invested in the official view which has been used to justify the UK ousting Russian diplomats. Similar ousting of diplomats was carried out by the US as well. The US also imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the poisoning.

While several Russian outlets reported on Victoria's remarks The Times also did so.

A June 14 article in Digital Journal points out many of the holes in the official version of events and has many links to critiques of the official narrative.

Previously published in Digital Journal