I've been following this story for a while now, and very frankly don't know what to make of it.

Ivan Rybkin is the opposition candidate running against Vladimir Putin for the Russian Presidency. The election is scheduled for March 14th.

Last week, his driver and bodyguard dropped him off at his Moscow home. That was the last time that he was seen for days. By Monday of last week an investigation into his possible murder started. Then stopped. About an hour after publicly saying that the candidate might have been killed, the official pronouncement was that there was no evidence of foul play. I guess that I was not alone in thinking "Cover up!" I mean this is Russia, after all.

On Tuesday, Rybkin shows up in Kiev. He seems surprised at all the excitment and gives a press conference stating that he needed a "break" from campaigning, so he turned off his cel phone and went to visit old friends in Kiev. "I left fruit and money for my wife, who is currently taking care of the grandchildren, changed my jacket, got on a train and went to Kiev."

Accusations began that he had staged a publicity stunt to garner attention. Even his wife was against him. "Poor Russia, if this type of person tries to run the country," she told one reporter. "You mean your husband?" the journalist asked. "Yes," she replied. (*** Note to Rybkin: She obvioulsy doesn't like fruit. Next time, leave borscht.)

The next day Rybkin returns to Moscow and begins claiming that it was a sinister plot against him. First he is vague about it, then more pronounced. He was drugged and kept in Kiev, there is a tape with him on it that would be damaging, etc. As I say in the title, bizarre events.

Russia has traditionally been a land of conspiracy theories, some true. Now Rybkin is Putin's strongest critic on Chechnya. Rybkin's campaign is financed by millionaire Boris Berezovsky, who has political asylum in England. Rybkin met with Berezovsky this week. Rybkin has in the past stated or implied that the acts of Chechnyan terrorism (taking hostages in the movie theatre which resulted in the use of gas by Russian authorities, the bombing of the Moscow apartment building, etc.) were preventable, but that Putin has used these to sodilify his position of power. He is also involved in the trial of Alexander Vinnik, "a little known political fixer" charged with arranging the murder of Sergei Yushenkov, Rybkin's predessor as the head of the Liberal Russia political party. Where is Wahkonta Anathema when we need him most? (Said in a friendly manner!)

I am curious as to what others might think.

Some links that carry this story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1147906,00.html (Guardian UK)

http://slate.msn.com/id/2095446/ (Scott McMillan, on Slate)