Russian State Duma candidate who abruptly went missing before election says she is home and safe

Russian State Duma candidate Yulia Kuznetsova, who went missing on the eve of Russia’s three-day voting period shortly after meeting with voters, said in a Telegram post on Sunday that she and her husband are safe. She added that she had been able to vote at her local polling station.

Kuznetsova’s supporters also said she is home and is doing fine. They declined to comment further “so as not to harm anyone”.

Kuznetsova stopped responding to messages on the evening of 17 September after a meeting with voters dedicated to internet freedom. The next day, a video appeared on her Telegram channel in which she spoke of a “difficult conversation” after which she had needed psychological and medical help.

Her campaign team suggested at the time that the video may have been recorded under duress. Her team determined it had been filmed not on Kuznetsova’s iPhone but on an Android smartphone. She also had not been in contact with her associates, and both her phone and her husband’s remained unreachable.

Shortly before Kuznetsova's disappearance, election authorities claimed she had submitted paperwork to withdraw her campaign's election observers. Kuznetsova denied doing this and said her signature on the document was forged.

Kuznetsova’s electoral platform called for peace, the admission of all candidates and parties to elections, media freedom and the release of political prisoners.