A church in Salisbury will host a \u201cservice of cleansing and celebration\u201d after the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the city last month.<\/p>\n
St Thomas\u2019s, in the centre of Salisbury, will hold the service at 3 p.m. on Sunday, metres away from the site of the bench where the Skripals were found outside the Maltings shopping centre. The Rector of St Thomas\u2019s, the Revd Kelvin Inglis, said that the service would end with a procession to the spot where the pair were found.<\/p>\n
The Skripals are believed to have been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, and the fallout from the attack on them has resulted in the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the UK and its allies, since the Government concluded that it was \u201chighly likely\u201d that the blame lay with Moscow (News, 16 March<\/a>,\u00a023 March<\/a>). More than 20 countries around the world expelled Russian diplomats: the UK required 23 to leave; and the United States, 60.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, it was reported that Ms Skripal had been discharged from hospital, and that Mr Skripal was also making good progress and would leave \u201cin due course\u201d.<\/p>\n