"She had a vacant look on her face, very intense, so I tried to calm her with reassuring words, and to get her to hand over the knife."
Mr Thomas is one of 15 MPs and six members of the House of Lords named on a Russian stop list, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.While the MP said the ban has not made "any immediate changes" to his travel plans, it has given him "the greatest possible endorsement" of his parliamentary activity.
In a statement, Russia cited the UK's "confrontational" stance towards Moscow as its reason for barring the politicians."The comprehensive nature of the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and the hysterical statements of British officials indicate that London does not intend to abandon its choice in favour of an open confrontation with Russia," the foreign ministry said.Mr Thomas explained the statement included some of the things mentioned by him and other MPs in Parliament.
"It does mention specifically the £25bn of frozen Russian assets that are in London that I've specifically asked twice for the government to send to Ukraine," Mr Thomas told BBC Radio Gloucestershire."But I think, more broadly, our conversations about Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and its past annexation of Crimea and The Donbas."
Mr Thomas said that his visit to Ukraine, which saw him cross the border from Poland to Lviv before travelling to the east of the country, opened his eyes to "the devastation" that has unfolded over three years of war.
Although he currently has no plans to visit Ukraine again, he said he "certainly wouldn't rule them out".James Malley, a research technician, operates a machine that can work out how much oxygen is contained within the specs of dust.
He shows us a test run of what he will do."I'm going to hit that grain on the tray with a laser," he says, showing the scene magnified on a computer screen.
"It's going to start to glow, and you will see it melt inwards," he says.The team has a year to finish their research. By the end, their search for answers will probably end up destroying the samples.