LONDON (AP) — The British hospital treating poisoned spy Sergei Skripal on Wednesday accused a Russian TV crew of “appalling behavior” for sneaking into the facility overnight.
Footage posted online by British newspapers showed a reporter from the REN TV network walking along corridors at Salisbury District Hospital early Wednesday and commenting on the apparent lack of security.
The hospital said in a statement that “this footage shows appalling behavior on the part of these Russian journalists — approaching staff in the middle of the night with no warning and without asking for any permission.”
It said “any attempt to harass, intimidate or cause distress to any of our staff or patients is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
The Wiltshire Police force said officers “attended and spoke to two men in the reception area, who were believed to be news reporters. They were asked to leave the hospital and did so. No arrests were made.”
Britain’s National Union of Journalists said reporters “need to act responsibly and sensitively when covering stories at hospitals.” It said it would be alerting the Russian Union of Journalists about the incident.
Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence agent convicted of spying for Britain, has been a patient at the Salisbury hospital since he and his daughter were found unconscious in the southwest England city on March 4.
Britain alleges they were poisoned with a Soviet-developed nerve agent, and blames Russia. Russia denies involvement in the pair’s poisoning, which triggered a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.
The hospital announced Tuesday that the ex-spy’s 33-year-old daughter, Yulia Skripal, has been discharged. She has been moved to an undisclosed location.
Russia has accused Britain of refusing to share information about the case and has demanded consular access to Yulia Skripal, who is a Russian citizen. Her father was given British citizenship after coming to the U.K. in 2010 as part of a spy swap.
Britain’s Foreign Office said Wednesday that Yulia Skripal declined to speak to Russian officials.
Russia’s embassy in London said it would “demand to meet with Yulia and Sergei Skripal, whose situation ever more resembles forced captivity or deprivation of freedom.”
Besides the “bad show, not cricket!” finger wag, did they take the message on the implications of the fact that they have a man the SVR tried to kill as a patient in their hospital to heart?
Seems to me that what’s truly appalling is that a TV crew were able to waltz into the hospital to begin with. Is there literally no security?!
I’m trying to think of someone you wouldn’t want to arrest in that circumstance–prowling around the rooms of internationally famous attempted murder victims. The Queen, maybe?
As a rule, you don’t want to arrest journalists in a free society if you can help it, even when they technically break the law, but if ever there were an exception, this is it.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s the Russian journalists who are at fault here. Is this amateur hour in the UK? Maybe I’ve seen too many Bond-esque movies, but it seems like that particular hospital should be in a security lockdown.
“Russia’s embassy in London said it would “demand to meet with Yulia and
Sergei Skripal, whose situation ever more resembles forced captivity or
deprivation of freedom.””
Jeez, for all the methods and techniques of this last few years, this is pretty clumsy and stilted for the Russians. Is this the 60s?