Ex-spy’s daughter says she doesn’t want Russian Embassy’s help after poisoning

The woman who was poisoned alongside her father, a former Russian spy, in the United Kingdom last month said Wednesday that she’s receiving assistance from U.K. police and does not want the help of the Russian Embassy.

“I have specially trained officers available to me, who are helping to take care of me and to explain the investigative processes that are being undertaken,” Yulia Skripal said in a statement issued through London’s Metropolitan Police.

“I have access to friends and family, and I have been made aware of my specific contacts at the Russian Embassy who have kindly offered me their assistance in any way they can,” she added. “At the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services, but, if I change my mind I know how to contact them.”

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Skripal, who was released from the hospital on Monday, also distanced herself from remarks made by her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, who has voiced skepticism of British authorities’ account of the poisoning.

British officials have blamed the Russian government for the March 4 attack on Yulia Skripal and her father, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent and a British citizen. Moscow has denied any role in the attack.

“I want to stress that no one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves,” Yulia Skripal said Wednesday. “I thank my cousin Viktoria for her concern for us, but ask that she does not visit me or try to contact me for the time being. Her opinions and assertions are not mine and they are not my father’s.”

In a recording purporting to be a phone call between Skripal and her cousin broadcast by Russian state television last week, Skripal similarly discouraged her cousin from visiting her in the U.K.

Sergei Skripal remains hospitalized but is no longer in critical condition. 

The poisoning of the Skripals with a military-grade nerve agent last month ignited a fierce diplomatic dispute between Russia and the West. 

More than two dozen countries have moved to expel Russian officials in recent weeks, and Moscow has responded with a series of diplomatic expulsions of its own. 

Russian officials have accused the U.S. and other countries of orchestrating a blackmail campaign intended to isolate Moscow on the world stage.

The Trump administration also announced new sanctions against dozens of Russian oligarchs, government officials and companies last week in a move that appeared intended to take direct aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

Those sanctions were not cast as a response to any particular action by Moscow but were described instead as a response to broad destabilizing activities by Russia.