Rybkin blames security services for his absence

The Russian presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin tried yesterday to end the row surrounding his five-day disappearance.

In an interview with Echo of Moscow radio, the Kremlin critic hinted that blame lay on the security services for indirectly frightening him into hiding and for not telling the country where he was.

Rybkin announced that he was taking "time out" to decide whether to abandon his candidacy in the election on 14 March, which President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win.