The former Russian intelligence officer, who came to Britain in 2010 as part of a spy swap, regretted being a double agent and wanted to visit his family, Vladimir Timoshkov told the BBC.
Timoshkov said Skripal had called him from London in 2012 and told him he had written to Vladimir Putin asking to be fully pardoned and to be allowed to visit Russia where his mother, brother and other relatives lived.
Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, remain in a critical condition after they were poisoned with the highly lethal nerve agent Novichok in the English town of Salisbury on March 4.
The attempted assassination sparked a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Britain, which has been supported by its allies in apportioning blame to the Kremlin.
On Friday, EU leaders promised an "unprecedented" diplomatic response to the attack after backing UK Prime Minister Theresa May's assertion that Moscow was responsible.
Meanwhile, the EU is recalling its ambassador to Russia for "consultations" on the Salisbury attack.
Russia has vehemently denied any responsibility for the incident, while on Sunday Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's EU ambassador, said that "from the legal point of view the Russian state had nothing against him (Skripal)".
The 66-year-old was accused of working for MI6 over several years, in particular disclosing the names of several dozen Russian agents working in Europe.
He was sentenced to 13 years in a high-security Russian prison in August 2006, before being freed in the 2010 deal which saw 10 Russian sleeper agents expelled from the United States.
