Скачать или смотреть Missing politician alive and well, arrives at airport

(11 Feb 2004)

1. Exterior of Moscow Sheremetyeva-1 International Airport
2. Photographers
3. Presidential hopeful Ivan Rybkin and aides coming out of airport VIP hall doors
4. VIP hall sign
5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Ivan Rybkin, Presidential candidate:
"Such thoughts come to my mind. I have not witnessed or experienced such despotism as we have now in my 15 years in politics."
6. Mr Rybkin's aide talking on the phone
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Ivan Rybkin, Presidential candidate:
"No comment. I'm disturbed by the fact that my daughter was crying over the phone. Thank God I'm here, on my native land. I'll not say anything more than this."
8. Rybkin and aides coming out of the VIP hall
9. Rybkin enters car
10. Rybkin's car driving off

STORYLINE:

In a bizarre twist to Russia's presidential campaign, the candidate who went missing last week surfaced on Tuesday in Ukraine and returned to Moscow, offering no clear explanation of his five-day absence.

Ivan Rybkin, a critic of President Vladimir Putin, had been missing since late on Thursday, after being dropped off outside his Moscow home, according to his wife and campaign staffers.

But his staff reported on Tuesday evening that he had turned up in Ukraine, and he later took a flight to Moscow.

Back in Russia, he made no mention of that version of events and instead dropped vague hints indicating that his absence was not an action of his own will.

"Such despotism is not like anything I have seen or experienced in 15 years of political life," he said at Moscow's Sheremetyevo-1 airport.

Rybkin's wife and staff had filed a missing-person report on the 57-year-old politician on Sunday, the day after his candidacy for the March 14 presidential election was approved by the Central Election Commission.

Prosecutors opened a murder investigation into Rybkin's disappearance on Monday - and then immediately closed it, citing a lack of evidence.

While the mystery around his disappearance swirled, Russian political observers suggested several possibilities: that his disappearance was staged as a political gimmick aimed at destabilisation ahead of the election, that he fell victim to intrigues within the Berezovsky-funded Liberal Russia party, or that he was targeted in a politically motivated attack by the Russian security services.

In terms of attracting votes, Rybkin presented little or no challenge to Putin, who is expected to win a second term easily.

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