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It seems he went off to have private life for 2-3 days.
From cnn:
Missing Putin rival found - aide
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin has reappeared in Kiev after being reported missing for five days, one of his aides said.
There had been fears expressed by some that the outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin might have been kidnapped or killed, while others were calling his disappearance a publicity stunt.
Kseniya Ponomaryova, Rybkin's campaign manager, said she had "no explanation" why he went to the Ukrainian capital. Rybkin was due to return to Moscow Tuesday evening.
Rybkin, the former speaker of Parliament and strong critic of President Vladimir Putin, told the Interfax News Agency he was staying with friends and was puzzled about all the fuss.
"I didn't disappear anywhere. I bought a newspaper today and was stunned," Ekho Moskvy radio quoted him as saying.
Rybkin, who disappeared last Thursday, told Interfax news agency he was entitled to go on a short break.
"I have the right to two or three days of personal life. I went to Kiev to my friends, walked around, switched off my mobile phones, and didn't watch TV," he was quoted as saying.
"Over the last week I decided to have a rest from the fuss, which has surrounded me. I left my wife, who is now taking care of our grandchildren, fruit and money, but didn't tell her anything. I changed my jacket, got onto the train and left for Kiev."
He said he telephoned after reading newspapers in Kiev.
The mystery surrounding Rybkin's disappearance deepened Monday with the launch -- and then cancellation -- of a murder probe.
Rybkin's family and staff filed a missing persons report Sunday, and the FSB -- Russia's Federal Security Service -- launched an investigation.
On Monday morning, Moscow prosecutors announced a criminal case on charges of pre-meditated murder. But they canceled it almost immediately, saying there was "no basis" for such a case.
A liberal, Rybkin is running as an independent in the March 14 presidential election -- which Putin is expected to win easily.
Last week, in an open letter published in the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Rybkin accused Putin of being "the biggest oligarch in Russia."
"I am convinced Putin has no right to power in Russia ... and we have no right to be silent about it," Rybkin wrote.
He also accused the president of being allied with forces trying to control Russian business. Putin did not answer the charges.
Rybkin is a supporter of negotiations with Chechen separatists, an idea Putin vehemently rejected just last Friday following a subway bombing blamed on Chechen terrorists.
The bombing killed 39 people and injured more than 100 others. (Full story)
Rybkin, 57, was a national security adviser to former President Boris Yeltsin. He is one of six candidates running against Putin.
His poll ratings have hovered around 1 percent, and experts agree he has no chance of winning the race.
He did manage to collect 2 million signatures to put his name on the ballot, although the central election committee said it found numerous falsifications. He was certified as a candidate, however.
Rybkin is co-chairman of the Liberal Russia political party. Two of its parliamentary members have been killed under questionable circumstances.
He is also allied with Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who now lives in London. Some opponents of Berezovsky had raised the possibility that he might be tied somehow to Rybkin's disappearance.
But Berezovsky told a Moscow radio station Sunday that he was "pretty sure" Rybkin was "alive and well," saying Rybkin's wife was told by officials that he was safe.
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