A municipal lawmaker and entrepreneur from Vladivostok is believed to have been kidnapped in connection with his business activities.
According to news reports, United Russia lawmaker Dmitry Suleyev went missing over the weekend after setting out for the far eastern city of Khabarovsk.
Investigators said in a statement Monday that his wife had appealed to law enforcement officials and that they would run a check into the incident. A criminal case has not yet been opened.
Local news portal PrimaMedia reported that Suleyev left home to travel by train to Khabarovsk late Saturday, after which he asked his sister to withdraw the money he kept in a safe-deposit box and hand it over to a group of unidentified individuals.
His wife said that in 2011 the same people had raided a series of Vladivostok-based businesses belonging to Suleyev, the news portal said.
"I hope that Dmitry is OK, and let's not forget that he is the father of two young children," Dmitry Novikov, Suleyev's friend and a regional talk-show host, told PrimaMedia on Monday.
Suleyev, who was elected to the Vladivostok Duma in October, chairs the city's economic policy and state property committee and heads the Primorye region branch of the Delovaya Rossia business lobby, according to Interfax.
