© Hannah McKay / ReutersPolice guard the cordoned-off area around the home of former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, April 3, 2018
The niece of Sergei Skripal referred to the Salisbury pizzeria after visiting which her uncle and his daughter had been found by policemen after the March 4 incident. She pointed out that the two allegedly ordered fugu fish - quite a surprising suggestion as this dish is part of Japanese cuisine, and should be carefully prepared to avoid a lethal poisoning. The Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury does not offer any fugu-based dish in its menu.
"Is it difficult to obtain an account and see what people ordered at the restaurant? For some reason this information is classified. Did they eat some unknown dish that you cannot eat? Or is it forbidden in England?" Victoria Skripal said.
Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin; therefore, it must be carefully prepared. The restaurant preparation of fugu, which is served as sashimi and chirinabe, is strictly controlled by law in Japan and several other countries, and only chefs who have qualified after three or more years of rigorous training are allowed to prepare the fish. Domestic preparation occasionally leads to accidental death.
According to police, Skripals had a drink at The Bishop's Mill pub and then ate lunch at Italian restaurant Zizzi, leaving around 3:35pm. However, it hasn't been immediately clear what exactly did they order.
The version voiced by Victoria Skripal has been one of numerous suggestions concerning the poisoning of the former spy and his daughter.
She also noted that the story of the Skripals being poisoned by a nerve agent from the door of Skripal's house holds no water. According to her, police conducted a search in Skripal's house, where she said lived "two cats and two guinea pigs."
The neighbors saw one of the cats running away from the house after the Skripals' poisoning. "If the Novichok* is used for poisoning, why did the animals survive?" she added.
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Earlier, Victoria told Russia's Rossiya 24 TV Channel that she wants to fly to London to take Yulia Skripal to Russia.
"As far as Sergei Viktorovich [Skripal] is concerned, everything is much more complicated there. So right now I will keep neutrality both towards the UK and us," she pointed out.
When asked whether Yulia Skripal was involved in politics, Victoria said that "there was no political component in her life."
Victoria added that she communicated with her uncle two weeks before the Salisbury incident, learning about his and his daughter being poisoned from media outlets at 18:00 Moscow time (15-00 GMT).
Comment: As a Moon of Alabama commenter points out, the Daily Mail reported that the Skripals ate a seafood risotto pesce with prawns, mussels and squid rings - a dish with a reputation as a source for shellfish poisoning. That's because the paralytic seafood poison saxitoxin is a neurotoxin, which has been weaponized. And it can have similar effects as a nerve agent: "Respiratory difficulty, salivation, temporary blindness, nausea and vomiting may also occur. In extreme cases, paralysis of respiratory muscles may lead to respiratory arrest and death." Of course, if the Skripals simply had a near-fatal case of food poisoning, that still wouldn't explain how Det. Sgt. Nick Bailey also came down with it.
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