Yulia Skripal tells cousin 'everything is ok', Russian TV report

Russian state TV has aired a recording of a telephone call between Yulia Skripal, who was poisioned in a nerve agent attack in March, and a cousin, saying that she and her father, former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, are ok

A relative of the poisoned former double agent Sergei Skripal has said she has spoken on the phone with his daughter, Yulia.

Russian state TV has aired a recording of the alleged cousins, indicating that everything is ok and the two victims are awake.

“She said everything is fine and she is doing OK,” Viktoria Skripal told the Guardian by telephone from Moscow. “That’s all I’m going to say.”

In remarks carried by Russian television, Yulia Skripal told her relative that “everything is fine, everything is fixable, everyone is getting better”, Reuters reported.

When asked about her father’s condition, Yulia Skripal reportedly said “everything is fine, he is resting, sleeping”.

This is the pairs first contact with the outside world since falling into a coma after the 4 March nerve agent attack outside of their family home.

On Wednesday evening, Viktoria Skripal said she had applied for a British visa and coordinated her trip with the Russian embassy in London. She said she expected Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador, to meet her, and said he had helped her apply for a passport.

“At the moment, I have just one goal: fly there and get Yulia, at the very least Yulia,” she said on the Russia-1 state news station. Sergei Skripal’s foreign citizenship made his situation “more complicated”, she said.

Viktoria Skripal appeared on several Russian talkshows on Wednesday, including one with Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, both accused in the 2006 poisoning of the former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Last week, Salisbury NHS foundation trust said 33-year-old Yulia was no longer in a critical condition, describing her medical state as stable.

Her father’s condition was described by the hospital as still critical but stable. Sergei Skripal, 66, is believed to have been the main target of the attack.

NHS England said on Thursday its policy was only to give an update on the Skripals’ condition when there had been a “significant” change.

A high court judgement related to the case and published following a hearing on 20, 21 and 22 March, revealed that both Skripals were heavily sedated.

The UK government has accused Russia of being behind the attack, sparking an international diplomatic crisis