The bench outside the “Moltings“ shopping center in Salisbury remains the last place where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were seen in public. On March 4, 2018, father and daughter were found unconscious after contact with a nerve agent from the Novichok group. Both survived, but after their discharge, their lives disappeared from the public eye.
Both are alive, but their whereabouts are a secret
Yulia Skripal left the hospital on April 9, 2018, and Sergei was discharged on May 18. British authorities reported that the two were then taken to a safe place. Since then, no confirmed information has been published about where they live, what their names are, or what their current health status is.
Publications by the BBC and the “Guardian“ in 2026 only confirmed that Sergei and Yulia had not returned to the house in Salisbury. The property, whose door handle was reportedly coated with Novichok, was decontaminated and repaired. In June 2026, it was put up for sale through a shared ownership scheme. The price for 30 percent of the home is £114,000.
The sale of the house is the most visible new detail about the couple's lives, but it does not provide an answer to their whereabouts. British authorities have not announced whether they have been given new identities, nor whether they live in the UK or another country.
Yulia's last public words were in 2018.
After leaving the hospital, Yulia made a brief statement released by British authorities. In it, she said: "The most important thing is that I am safe and feeling better," adding that her recovery was slow and painful and that she wanted to take care of her father.
This remains Yulia's last confirmed public statement. Sergei Skripal has not given a public interview since the poisoning. There has been no confirmed photo or public appearance of either in the years since.
The case remained part of the British investigation
In late 2025, a public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who was exposed to the same type of nerve agent a few months after the attack on Skripal, concluded. The report examined the operation in Salisbury and the subsequent spread of the substance in the area.
The British government said that the investigation had found responsibility for Russian military intelligence and that Vladimir Putin personally authorised the operation. Moscow denies any involvement in the poisoning.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that “the use of Novichok in Salisbury was an attack not just on individuals, but on our country and our values“. For Sergei and Yulia, however, the most significant consequence remains personal security: they survived, but for more than eight years they have lived away from the public eye, with no confirmed information about their location, names, or daily lives.
Sources: BBC, Guardian