- Ivan Rybkin, the Russian presidential candidate who reappeared
on Tuesday after vanishing last week, said yesterday that he had been kidnapped,
drugged and kept unconscious for four days by armed strangers.
-
- Speaking in London, Mr Rybkin said he had now decided
to stay abroad until after polling day on March 14 because he felt this
was "the only realistic guarantee for the security of my family".
He was not abandoning his candidacy, nor planning to seek asylum abroad.
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- The disappearance of Mr Rybkin - a staunch critic of
President Vladimir Putin and the only candidate to have made criticism
of the war in Chechnya a central plank of his campaign - prompted anxious
statements from his wife and a murder inquiry by Russian police. Others
saw the move as a publicity stunt.
-
- When he resurfaced in Kiev on Tuesday he said he had
switched off his mobile phone and gone away for a rest. But in London yesterday
he said these statements had been made under pressure. He had later gone
home to Moscow briefly, but had decided to leave Russia and to explain
what had happened.
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- As the secretary of Russia's security council under the
former president, Boris Yeltsin, Mr Rybkin helped to end the first Chechen
war by negotiating a peace treaty with the Chechen president, Aslan Maskhadov.
-
- When Mr Putin was appointed prime minister in 1999 and
tore up the deal three years later by sending Russian troops back into
the devastated republic in the Caucasus, Mr Rybkin denounced the policy
and became the most senior Russian figure to call for a political settlement.
-
- It was this that led him to last week's fateful episode,
he said yesterday. He was contacted two weeks ago by a human-rights activist
who offered to take him to a secret location in Ukraine to meet Mr Maskhadov.
Suspicious but intrigued, Mr Rybkin said he flew to London last week to
seek advice from Mr Maskhadov's representative, Akhmed Zakayev, who has
political asylum in Britain.
-
- Mr Zakayev said he would need a week to check, but on
his return to Moscow, Mr Rybkin was rung again by the go-between. He decided
to take the risk, without Mr Zakayev's answer.
-
- He took a train to Ukraine, and the go-between met him
in Kiev. There he was taken to a flat. After being offered tea and sandwiches,
he felt drowsy.
-
- Four days later he woke up in a different flat, where
he was shown a compromising video of himself.
-
- Repeatedly declining to discuss the contents at yesterday's
press conference, where he seemed close to tears, he said it was made by
"horrible perverts". He also refused to say who he thought had
organised his kidnapping. His captors spoke perfect Russian and were fellow
Slavs, he said. "I don't know who did it, but I know who benefited
from this," he added.
-
- "It was for the benefit of those who seek to compromise
or humiliate the opposition which is under heavy pressure from the government."
-
- Asked why he had not told his wife he was leaving home
overnight on urgent business, he said it was an issue of security. "I
love my wife. I'm a husband who would always leave a note or phone number,"
he said.
-
- Chechnya is sensitive for Mr Putin because he is widely
regarded to have won election as president by exploiting anti-Chechen feelings.
-
- Besides criticising Mr Putin for rejecting peace talks,
Mr Rybkin took out a full-page ad in a Russian newspaper two weeks ago
accusing the president of being "the main oligarch in Russia",
and stating: "Power and money go hand in hand in dictatorial regimes.
Putin's regime is no exception."
-
- The article appeared in Kommersant, which is owned by
one of Mr Putin's wealthiest opponents, Boris Berezovsky, who has political
asylum in Britain. Mr Berezovsky is helping to finance Mr Rybkin's campaign,
which has angered the Kremlin. State-controlled Russian media have either
ridiculed Mr Rybkin's disappearance or ignored it.
-
- Several candidates for next month's presidential election
have dropped out. Some of the seven who remain on the ballot paper say
they are not really opponents of Mr Putin.
-
- As a candidate Mr Rybkin is entitled to free time on
television. He said he would ask the election authorities to air his views
from London.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1148064,00.html
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