05 March 2004 15:37
Russia presidential candidate Rybkin quits
Russian presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin, who last month came to prominence by mysteriously disappearing for four days, said on Friday he was pulling out of the March 14 election, Interfax news agency said.
"I am withdrawing my candidacy and will not take part in this farce," Interfax quoted Rybkin, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, as saying.
Former parliamentary speaker Rybkin was among six rivals of Putin, who is forecast to win the polls by a landslide. He has a zero popularity rating, according to latest opinion polls.
Last month Rybkin suddenly disappeared from Moscow, briefly sending shockwaves through the Russian political world, only to resurface four days later in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. He initially said he had visited Kiev to relax and see friends. But after a meeting in London with his sponsor, Putin's exiled arch-foe Boris Berezovsky, Rybkin said he was drugged and filmed in a "disgusting" video in a flat in Kiev.
Rybkin, who returned to Moscow late on Thursday, said he had become a victim of massive pressure from the Kremlin and called on the other six candidates to pull out of the polls. "I prefer a boycott," he said.
[http://gazeta.ru/] |
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