Vladimir Putin on Thursday demanded that Russian officials be given consular access to Yulia Skripal and that Russian law enforcement agencies take part in the investigation into her poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent. Skripal and her father, a former double agent who was released from Russian prison in a spy swap with the UK in 2010, were poisoned with a novichok nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury in March. British officials have blamed Russia for the attack, calling it the first use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe since the second world war.

“We would very much like to be given access to our citizens, to Yulia in this case, and to be given the opportunity to take part in the investigation,” Putin said during a nationally televised question-and-answer session on Thursday. Putin also said that both Skripal and her father would have died if a military-grade nerve agent was used.

Both Skripals were found unconscious and “critically unwell” after the poisoning. Doctors were concerned they could die or suffer irreversible brain damage. Both eventually recovered to the point where they could be discharged from the hospital. Sergei Skripal has not spoken publicly about the attack, while in a statement in May, his daughter asked for privacy. The recovery had been “slow and extremely painful,” she said, adding that she wanted to care for her father and eventually “return home to my country”.(theguardian)…[+]