What happened to Sergei and Yulia Skripal and how are they now?

The Salisbury poisonings sparked a national emergency and an international crisis, turning the world's eyes on a former Russian spy and his daughter
Ewan Somerville14 June 2020

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were thrust into the centre of a diplomatic scandal two years ago.

The pair were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Wiltshire, an incident back in the spotlight with the new BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings airing this week.

Russian agents were found to be responsible, prompting a crisis with huge consequences for relations between Vladamir Putin and the West.

But where are the pair today? We explore what we know.

Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital
PA

What happened to Sergei and Yulia Skripal?

On March 4, 2018, police raced to reports the Skripals were unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, finding them in an “extremely serious condition”.

The deadly military-grade nerve agent Novichok had been smeared on the door-handle of Mr Skripal’s home in the city.

Russian men Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, who operated under the false names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, are accused of carrying out the attack. Chepiga was a top colonel in the GRU, Russia’s military.

Getty Images

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, the first police officer on scene, was also left seriously ill but was discharged from hospital after less than three weeks.

In June 2018 around eight miles from Salisbury, Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill after handling a perfume bottle containing Novichok along with her partner Charlie Rowley. She died the following month.

How are they now?

Sergei and Yulia Skripal have reportedly been living in a safe house guarded by MI6 for more than a year.

Yulia was reportedly moved to the secret location after she was discharged from hospital and joined by her father, who arrived in the UK in a spy-swap in 2010, a month later.

But it has emerged that the pair have moved to New Zealand to start new lives, Government sources told The Sunday Times.

One senior insider with information on the measures carried out to protect the couple told the newspaper that they had been given new identities to move overseas.

Sergei Skripal’s former neighbours told The Sunday Times magazine that they had received a Christmas card from him in December with no return address, but added: “I don’t expect we’ll ever see them again.”

What's the latest update on the Russian spy poisoning case?

There have been few developments in the case in the past year, but last summer the Government was warned that Russia was feared to be rebuilding its spy network in Britain following the attack, MPs have heard.

Conservative Sir Roger Gale raised concerns as he pushed ministers to offer assurances that MI5 is “very firmly on the case”.

Sajid Javid, the-then Home Secretary, declined to comment on intelligence matters but said Sir Roger is right to be concerned about the “rise in hostile state activity”.

A total of 23 Russian diplomats who Theresa May claimed were undeclared intelligence officers were expelled from the UK following the Salisbury attack, with international allies including the US following suit.

Meanwhile, last month the family of Ms Sturgess, who died in the Salisbury poisonings, won the first stage of their High Court challenge over a coroner’s decision to limit the scope of her inquest.

Novichok victim: Dawn Sturgess
PA

Wiltshire and Swindon coroner David Ridley had previously announced the hearing Ms Sturgess’ death would focus on determining “who, when, where and how” it occurred.

But the family wanted it widened under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights in order to consider “how and in what circumstances” Ms Sturgess died.

A High Court judge granted the family permission to apply for a judicial review and a two-day hearing is expected to take place in the summer.

It also emerged last week that the flat where Ms Sturgess fell ill is reportedly set to be demolished after lying in a "semi-derelict" state since her death two years ago.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in