Russian candidate: I was kidnapped
Friday, February 13, 2004 Posted: 1424 GMT (10:24 PM HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/02/13/russia.rybkin/index.html
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A Russian presidential candidate who disappeared for five days says he was kidnapped and drugged by his captors who lured him to the Ukranian capital Kiev.
Ivan Rybkin, 57, said in a statement released Friday in London that he would not return to Moscow until after the March 14 election.
"I will remain abroad in order to be able to tell the truth about Russia," he said.
"My decision to stay out of Russia and my public stand on the situation within my country is the only realistic guarantee of the security of my family.... Now even the most inconspicuous accident occurring to my family would immediately be seen as the regime taking revenge on me."
Rybkin, a fierce Kremlin critic who is running as an independent candidate against President Vladimir Putin, resurfaced Tuesday in Kiev after disappearing from his Moscow home March 5. He returned Tuesday to Moscow.
In his statement, Rybkin -- the former speaker of Parliament and national security adviser to former President Boris Yeltsin -- said he had been lured under false pretences to Kiev, where he was kidnapped, drugged and kept unconscious for four days.
"I dont know who did it but I know who benefited from this," he said. "After what happened in Kiev, I'm convinced that this election is a game without rules and it can end for me without ever beginning. That is why I will continue my campaign from abroad and then we shall see."
Initially, he explained his absence as just a rest from campaigning. But after returning to Moscow, he suggested a more sinister motive.
"If I had started to say what I'm saying to you now ... it is possible that we wouldn't be having this conversation," Rybkin told Echo of Moscow radio.
Moscow police officially closed the missing persons case but said Wednesday they hoped to speak to Rybkin.
The disappearance had caused a political sensation, and the mystery deepened when prosecutors launched a murder probe, and then canceled it. Russia's Federal Security Service also launched an investigation.
Friday, February 13, 2004 Posted: 1424 GMT (10:24 PM HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/02/13/russia.rybkin/index.html
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A Russian presidential candidate who disappeared for five days says he was kidnapped and drugged by his captors who lured him to the Ukranian capital Kiev.
Ivan Rybkin, 57, said in a statement released Friday in London that he would not return to Moscow until after the March 14 election.
"I will remain abroad in order to be able to tell the truth about Russia," he said.
"My decision to stay out of Russia and my public stand on the situation within my country is the only realistic guarantee of the security of my family.... Now even the most inconspicuous accident occurring to my family would immediately be seen as the regime taking revenge on me."
Rybkin, a fierce Kremlin critic who is running as an independent candidate against President Vladimir Putin, resurfaced Tuesday in Kiev after disappearing from his Moscow home March 5. He returned Tuesday to Moscow.
In his statement, Rybkin -- the former speaker of Parliament and national security adviser to former President Boris Yeltsin -- said he had been lured under false pretences to Kiev, where he was kidnapped, drugged and kept unconscious for four days.
"I dont know who did it but I know who benefited from this," he said. "After what happened in Kiev, I'm convinced that this election is a game without rules and it can end for me without ever beginning. That is why I will continue my campaign from abroad and then we shall see."
Initially, he explained his absence as just a rest from campaigning. But after returning to Moscow, he suggested a more sinister motive.
"If I had started to say what I'm saying to you now ... it is possible that we wouldn't be having this conversation," Rybkin told Echo of Moscow radio.
Moscow police officially closed the missing persons case but said Wednesday they hoped to speak to Rybkin.
The disappearance had caused a political sensation, and the mystery deepened when prosecutors launched a murder probe, and then canceled it. Russia's Federal Security Service also launched an investigation.
