MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - Russia is fully entitled to participating in the inquiry into the poisoning of former Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) colonel Sergei Skripal, because that incident has also hurt Skripal's daughter Yulia, who is a citizen of Russia, a member of the State Duma Security and Anti-corruption Committee, Andrei Lugovoi, told Interfax on Thursday.
"Please note there has been an assassination attempt on Russian citizen Yulia Skripal. This means Russian investigative agencies are fully entitled to open a criminal case and must have access to our citizen in the capacity of participants in the proceeding," Lugovoi, who was accused by the British authorities of being involved in the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, said.
The deputy pointed out some oddities in the Skripal case.
"It is strange that in contrast to the death of Alexander Litvinenko, whose presence in the hospital was proven with photos and videos shown on every television channel and by other media outlets, no one has been showing either hospitalized Skripal or his daughter on television or on photographs. There is no access to them," Lugovoi said.
The UN Security Council's refusal to support the Russian proposal of probing the Skripal case by means of the Chemical Weapons Convention's mechanisms "proves there is a conspiracy between the UK, the United States, and France aimed at blocking an impartial investigation as much as possible," he said.