Yulia Skripal: speech of a hostage

The British media released a video statement of Yulia Skripal, who was allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury. It was her first media appearance and Ms Skripal was speaking from a secret location. She looks healthy, a scar on her neck is the only reminder of the Salisbury incident.

 Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Ms Skripal said a key phrase: "In the longer term I hope to return home to my country." That means Yulia Skripal is not scared of comming back home and does not fear for her life in Russia. She thanked the Russian embassy for its offer of assistance, she said she was "not ready to take it".

It should be noted that the structure of the sentence "In the longer term I hope to return home to my country" is rather odd. A typical native Russian-speaker, which is Yulia Skripal, would say "return home to Russia", and not "to my country".

This discrepancy suggests that the text was written in advance by a person who is not a native Russian-speaker. According to psychologists, the text is depersonalized and emotionless, it does not contain any specifics of Yulia Skripal’s speech. Her monotonous voice reveals that it was a rehearsed speech.

The Russian embassy in London also expressed concerns over the conditions in which Ms Skripal is being held.

"We are glad to have seen Yulia Skripal alive and well. The statement she read out contains new information. However, the video shown only strengthens our concerns as to the conditions in which she is being held. Obviously, Yulia was reading a pre-written text. More than that, judging by quite a few elements, the text was a translation from English and had been initially written by a native English-speaker. The handwritten letters signed by Yulia in Russian and English confirm this impression," the embassy said.

With all respect for Yulia’s privacy and security, this video does not discharge the UK authorities from their obligations under Consular Conventions. The UK is obliged to give us the opportunity to speak to Yulia directly in order to make sure that she is not held against her own will and is not speaking under pressure. So far, we have every reason to suspect the opposite," the statement reads.

Yulia Skripal's video statement recalls the appeals of hostages held by terrorists. This interview is likely a message to Russia that the UK is not going to stop anti-Russian campaign. And if Yulia Skripal does not speak under the pressure of Mi-5 and Mi-6, as the British press claims, then why she did not gave a press conference so that journalists could ask her questions.