Moscow, Feb. 8 (Reuters): Russian police launched a hunt today for a politician set to challenge President Vladimir Putin in forthcoming elections, after his wife said he had disappeared on Thursday and had not been seen since.

Election officials yesterday cleared Ivan Rybkin, a fierce critic of Putin, to run in a March 14 poll that the incumbent is widely expected to win with ease.

But today Rybkin’s wife reported him missing and police called in security services to search for him.

“His wife has made a report,” a police spokesperson said. “He left home around 7 pm on Thursday and since then he has not been seen.”

Rybkin, a former speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, has entered the presidential race as an independent and is backed by exiled business magnate Boris Berezovsky.

Berezovsky accuses Putin of crushing independent media and duping public opinion in his drive against Chechen separatism.

But few see any possibility of a credible election challenge to Putin, who has a rating of 70 per cent or more in opinion polls.