By Will Stewart In Moscow for MailOnline
Yulia Skripal has sensationally indicated she intends ‘soon’ to return to Russia, according to a Moscow newspaper.
The 34-year-old victim of nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury recently spoke by phone to a friend and a relative in her home country, it was claimed.
Her reported desire to return to her homeland – which could not be independently verified – comes despite Theresa May directly blaming Russia for the poisoning.
Moscow strenuously denies poisoning Yulia and her ex-spy father Sergei Skripal four months ago.
Yulia called a woman named only as Diana who is renovating her flat in Moscow and told her ‘she was doing well and that she was due to come to Russia soon’, Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) newspaper reported.
She also ‘gave a special order’ not to allow her own cousin Viktoria Skripal, 45, access to her flat, the woman was quoted as saying.
The report further claimed Yulia met a close Russian friend called Gulnara in London.
The report further claimed Yulia met in London a close Russian friend called Gulnara, was interviewed and exonerated by Scotland Yard after she brought a package of buckwheat from Russia to London around the time the Skripals were poisoned
Gulnara was interviewed and exonerated by Scotland Yard after she brought a package of buckwheat from Russia to London around the time the Skripals were poisoned.
She has been ‘in constant touch’ with Stepan Vikeev, 30, Yulia’s mysterious boyfriend who has vanished since the poisoning, MK claimed.
Vikeev was reported to have had connections to the FSB security service.
It is unclear from MK if Yulia has been in direct contact with Vikeev since the poisoning.
The newspaper claimed he initially had a ‘mental breakdown’ after she was poisoning, and he then disappeared.
It stated his ‘desire to go below the parapet can mean only one thing, that Stepan holds some information.
‘And it is quite possible that Russian special services had used him as a way of monitoring the English life of Sergey Skripal (considered a traitor in his homeland), because quite likely Yulia was sharing certain details about it with Stepan.
‘There is also another version, that Stepan is so scared for his reputation that he wants to be as far away as possible from the scandalous family.’
Vikeev’s mother Tatiana – also reportedly with links to the FSB – took her son to Sochi to recuperate for three weeks, and later he stayed out of sight with a business trip to the Arctic, it was claimed.
Meanwhile, the newspaper reported Yulia called her cousin Viktoria ‘several days ago’ and demanded she stop interfering in her life.
Viktoria has led a campaign with support of other family members to visit Yulia and Sergei in Britain, and to demand the UK authorities give more information about their health and the conditions in which they are living in a reported ‘safe house’.
Britain has repeatedly refused to issue Viktoria a visa.
Moscow strenuously denies poisoning Yulia and her ex-spy father Sergei Skripal with a novichok nerve agent four months ago
The paper quotes Yulia in an extraordinary telephone blast at her cousin.
‘This is Yulia Skripal, if you remember me,’ she is reported to have said.
‘I am calling to say that you acted in a disgusting way. We did not allow you to meddle into this situation.
‘Neither my flat, nor my car, or my dog have anything to do with you. I am assisting my father and working on my own recovery.’
Yulia attacked Viktoria for her earlier remarks that the poisoning victim’s voice in a video statement suggested she was not speaking freely, and could have been under British influence.
‘How is that any of your business what tone I used to speak in my video message?’ she said.
‘I can’t come back now because you go on (Russian) talk shows, and you made all this a public affair. Please stop meddling with this story.’
Viktoria is devastated by the verbal attack from her cousin, which she tonight confirmed to MailOnline.
‘I am shocked and stunned as are the rest of our family,’ she said.
She had been trying to help Yulia by launching her campaign, and Yulia indicated she was speaking with her father’s knowledge, Viktoria said.
But Viktoria said she remained ‘saddened and upset’ as to why Sergei has not contacted his beloved 89 year old mother Yelena, even though his health has reportedly improved since he regained consciousness after the novichok attack.
Viktoria is the mother’s long-time carer at her home in Yaroslavl.
She said Yulia had not asked in their phone conversation about the her grandmother’s health.
Yulia has rejected help from the Russian embassy in London, according to her public statement.