Salisbury poisoned agent leaves hospital

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, whose poisoning with a nerve agent in the UK triggered a diplomatic crisis with Russia, has been discharged from a British hospital.

The 66-year-old, a former colonel in Russia’s military intelligence, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4. Accusations by Britain that Moscow was behind the nerve agent attack led to a Russia-West crisis in which Western governments, including the United States, expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats.

UN experts confirmed in April that a high-purity nerve agent was used but did not specify whether it was Novichok, a nerve agent allegedly developed in the Soviet Union, or who might be behind the poisoning. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was “very happy” about Skripal’s hospital discharge, but used the occasion to denounce accusations that Russia had poisoned the ex-spy with a military-grade nerve agent.