Presidential campaign and alleged kidnapping
In 2004, Rybkin was nominated by Berezovsky's Liberal Party for the Russian presidential elections. During the campaign, on 2 February 2004, he accused incumbent President Vladimir Putin of organizing terrorist acts in Russia in 1999 and of being involved in shady business activities with Yury Kovalchuk, Mikhail Kovalchuk, Gennady Timchenko, KiNEx and the Russia Bank, which allegedly swallowed up a vast share of the nation's financial flows.
Rybkin's candidacy aligned itself strongly with Berezovsky's politics. While it was believed that Rybkin would, even optimistically, be unable to receive more than 2% of the vote, it was also believed that he might receive a sizable enough amount of funding from Berezovsky that he could orchestrate a significant amount of anti-Putin campaigning in advance of the election.
Many Russians had reported themselves to be too unfamiliar with Rybkin to have an opinion on him.
In February 2004, Rybkin disappeared for four days under mysterious circumstances. A day before his disappearance he accused the Putin administration of complicity in the 1999 bomb attacks in Moscow that led to a war in the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya. Five days later, Rybkin appeared in Kyiv. According to Rybkin's first explanations, on February 5 he decided to “take a break from the fuss” that was raised around him and went to Kyiv. Rybkin did not specify what kind of “fuss” this was. He said that he turned off his mobile phones so that his rest would not be disturbed. “I have the right to two or three days of privacy! - said Rybkin. “I often visit Kyiv, my friends and I walk the streets, especially since the weather was good there this weekend.” Later, he stated that he had been kidnapped and drugged by Russian FSB agents who lured him to Ukraine promising to arrange meeting with the former Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov. Upon arrival he was offered refreshments in the apartment, at which point he became "very drowsy." After being unconscious, he woke up on 10 February. Upon waking, he was shown a videotape in which he was performing "revolting acts" conducted by "horrible perverts". He was told that the tape would be made public if he continued with his presidential campaign. According to Alexander Litvinenko, the FSB agents apparently treated Rybkin with their standard truth drug.
Rybkin said he feared for his safety if he returned to Russia, and whilst he initially continued the campaign from abroad, on 5 March 2004, he withdrew from the race, saying he did not want to be part of "this farce," as he called the elections.
