Ignaty Leshchiner, a research fellow at Harvard University, was rescued after spending five days in a forest near Moscow, Moscow Region police spokesman Yevgeny Gildeyev said on Wednesday.
“According to preliminary information, the young man spent five days wandering in a forest,” the spokesman said. “No crime was committed against him, he simply lost his way.”
Police started searching for Leshchiner on Monday, following a request from his mother. She said that her 28-year-old son went missing on Friday evening, when he left the town of Sergiyev Posad in the Moscow Region, but did not arrive at his destination.
His Volvo S60 car was found parked on the roadside of a highway linking Sergiyev Posad and Moscow. It was locked, the scientist’s personal belongings were untouched and there were no signs of struggle. A murder investigation was launched.
The man was found in the Golygino village, when residents alerted police about a suspicious person seen in the area.
Leshchiner received medical and psychological assistance.