YULIA Skripal has told British authorities she does not wish to speak to Russian officials as she continues to recover from a nerve agent attack.

The development came as reports suggested that the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Warfare could publish its conclusions on the Salisbury attack as early as Thursday.

A diplomatic battle has been raging between London and Moscow over whether or not the Russian embassy should be allowed access to the 33-year-old daughter of former spy Sergei Skripal.

Ms Skripal, found critically ill alongside her 66-year-old father on a bench last month, was discharged from a hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire, this week.

The British authorities immediately spirited her away to a secure location.

The Russian embassy reacted angrily to the news, suggesting in a series of tweets that the Russian national had been taken against her will.

However, it is now understood that the offer of consular support from Russia was presented to Ms Skripal and rejected.

She is believed to have expressed no interest in talking to consular officials. Suggestions have been made that the Skripals could be given new identities and new lives in America and Australia. The Kremlin has insisted that if this were to happen it would be tantamount to abduction.

Russia remains the prime suspect for carrying out the attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter but it denies any involvement.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We have previously passed on the Russian embassy's offer of consular support to Yulia. She is free to decide on whether she wishes to pursue that. To date, we understand she has not done so."

The embassy remains perturbed by a refusal from UK authorities to grant Ms Skripal's cousin Viktoria a visa to visit her family.

It escalated the war of words on Tuesday, saying in a series of statements posted on social media: "Secret resettlement of Mr and Ms Skripal, barred from any contact with their family will be seen as an abduction or at least as their forced isolation."

Ms Skripal's release from hospital was met with a similar broadside from the embassy, which has repeatedly criticised the handling of the investigation into the attack.

In a statement, a spokesman said: "We congratulate Yulia on her recovery. Yet we need urgent proof that what is being done to her is done on her own free will."

Continuing the onslaught of scepticism on Wednesday morning, it suggested reports Ms Skripal had turned down consular assistance revealed she was being " held hostage by the same people who destroy evidence and fail to come up with a single official account of the crime".

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, has previously said it is "outrageous" that Britain has failed to provide consular access to Ms Skripal as news of her improving condition was announced earlier this month.

Mr Skripal, a former double agent, was jailed in Russia for selling secrets to MI6 but was released as part of a spy swap deal in 2010 and settled in the UK.

It is hoped he too will soon be fit for release from hospital, despite grave fears that the exposure to military-grade nerve agent Novichok on March 4 would prove fatal.

Britain has said that Russian state involvement is the only plausible explanation for the attack and has led a worldwide reaction involving the expulsion of more than 100 diplomats.