Rybkin quits presidential race
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Rybkin made headlines when he mysteriously disappeared.
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Ivan Rybkin, a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has announced he is withdrawing from the presidential race, calling the process a "farce."
Rybkin was speaking at a news conference just a little over a week ahead of the March 14 election, which Putin is widely expected to win easily.
Last month, Rybkin -- who was running as an independent -- made headlines when he mysteriously disappeared for five days, prompting a murder probe -- and offered no explanation for his whereabouts.
Rybkin, the head of the Liberal Russia party, had poll ratings of barely 1 percent compared to Putin's ratings average of 80 percent.
Wearing a fur hat and tinted glasses, Rybkin arrived in a snowstorm at a Moscow airport from Kiev, Ukraine, on February 10, after he went missing from his home five days earlier.
Both his wife and campaign staff feared for his life, concerned he might have been killed or kidnapped.
The 57-year-old former speaker of parliament and a national security adviser to former President Boris Yeltsin, hinted he might have been held against his will. (Full story)
The disappearance caused a political sensation, and the mystery deepened when prosecutors launched a murder probe, and then cancelled it. Russia's Federal Security Service also launched an investigation.
Others, however, believe the disappearance might have been a publicity stunt.
Rybkin, quoted by Interfax news agency, said he had been "hanging out" with his friends, had turned his mobile phone off and did not watch television. He said he noticed a newspaper story about him and called Moscow.
At the Moscow airport, Rybkin appeared very serious, refusing to say precisely what happened to him but hinting he might not have survived the stay in Kiev.
"There's really nothing to say. I'm back as if I went through a difficult round of Chechen negotiations. And I'm very glad I'm back," he told reporters.
"And were there any other possibilities?" one journalist asked.
"I don't know, probably there were," he replied.
Another question: "Did they hold you (in captivity) there?"
"It's very difficult to hold me," Rybkin said, "but I all the same think there are good people in Kiev to whom I am very grateful."
Rybkin abruptly ended the questions with: "No comment. I am very disturbed that my daughter cried on the phone with me. Thank God, I am back in my homeland, Nothing more. That's it."
Rybkin is a supporter of negotiations with Chechen separatists, an idea Putin vehemently rejects. He is also allied with Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who now lives in London.
-- CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty and Correspondent Ryan Chilcote contributed to this report.
