Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent in Salisbury a month ago along with her father, the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, is recovering and gaining strength in hospital, according to a new statement.
In a statement released via the Metropolitan Police Service on Thursday, 33-year-old Skripal said: "I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received.
"I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated. Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism.
"I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you’ll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence."
Earlier on Thursday, Russian state TV played what it claimed was a recording of a phone conversation between Yulia and her cousin Viktoria Skripal on 4 April.
In the recording, it is claimed Yulia said: "Everything is fine but we'll see how it goes; we'll decide later. You know what the situation is here. Everything is fine, everything is solvable, everyone is recovering and alive."
She is alleged to have added: "Everything is OK. He is resting now, having a sleep. Everyone's health is fine; there are no irreparable things. I will be discharged soon. Everything is OK."
In the call Viktoria Skipal said she would like to come to the UK to visit, but Yulia told her it was unlikely she would get a visa.
The call was aired on the Rossiya-1 channel's 60 Minutes show on Thursday, which also included political pundits casting doubt on the UK's claim that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack and alleged it was part of a campaign to denigrate the country.
Transcript of the conversation
Both Skripals were said to be in a critical but stable condition after the nerve agent attack on 4 March. On 26 March Theresa May said that the pair may never fully recover. Then two days later the NHS said Yulia Skripal's condition had improved and was no longer critical.
Skripal's statement was released just as the Russian ambassador to the UK, Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko, was giving a lengthy press conference for British and international press at the country's London embassy.
He cited a Twitter poll which, he said, shows that some people doubt the UK's conviction that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack.
Russian ambassador Yakovenko asked, “who reads our tweets? hands up?”…. a few journalists warily put up their hand. Then cites (what I think) is their Twitter poll on who to blame for the Skripal poisoning.
Yakovenko said, during a Q&A section, that Russia had never produced the Novichok nerve agent that was used in Salisbury.
Asked to respond to the new Yulia Skripal statement, he said he was happy to hear the news and wished Sergei Skripal a fast recovery too.
He said that the Russian state had offered to help Viktoria Skripal if she is able to come to the UK, including by offering accommodation and an interpreter. Yakovenko added that the trip was her private business and she was being treated as a relative of two injured people.
Answering a question from BuzzFeed News about why the Russian Embassy has been taunting the UK on Twitter – including a tweet suggesting that the fictional detective Poirot should be sent to Salisbury – he said: "We are not trolling, we are puzzled, because we need you know investigation and we don't get the cooperation. I understand that you didn't like this form [of tweet] because probably you watched Poirot."
Yakovenko back on the Russian embassy tweets: “We are using a sense of humor (because) some statements are not friendly with common sense"