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‘There’s something very odd about it’: Friends of British tourist missing in Brazil say he was ‘in good spirits’ as they fear he’s been kidnapped
14 June 2025, 08:38
A British tourist, reported missing in Rio de Janeiro, has been described as a kind and fun person, as his friends say they worry he’s been kidnapped.
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Denis Kopanev, 33, from London, was due to meet his friend Diego Garcia Blum in São Paulo on Tuesday but vanished from his Airbnb accommodation the night before.
CCTV captured him leaving the apartment in the neighbourhood of Gávea at around 8pm, leaving behind his belongings and passport.
“There’s something very odd about it,” Mr Garcia Blum, 36, from Boston, told LBC.
The pair met at a party in London in 2022 and stayed in touch, meeting up when they could.
Mr Garcia Blum was in Brazil for a Pride event, as director of an LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program at Harvard Kennedy School, and said he’d spoken to Mr Kopanev on a video call just hours before.
Read more: British tourist missing in Brazil after vanishing from Airbnb
He said: “On Sunday night when he called me, he had just checked into the Airbnb and he was super excited about it.
“He was showing me around the place, giving me a tour of it. He sent me videos of these monkeys going up to him and grabbing his food. You know, he was totally himself until he disappeared.”
Mr Kopanev, who is Russian with British citizenship, is said to have been on a sabbatical from work in London as a financial analyst and had been travelling around parts of South America, including Peru.
He’d planned to meet up with Mr Garcia Blum for them to add a few days on their trip together and had arrived two days earlier than him.
“When I got there and he wasn’t replying, I thought at first his phone must have been stolen,” Mr Garcia Blum told LBC.
“He's not someone who just wouldn't respond. But then I started to get really worried, and I contacted his best friend who saw his phone stopped pinging on Monday.
“At that point, it had already been over 24 hours.
“The Airbnb landlord agreed that it's very strange. We have him on camera leaving on Monday night and he doesn't come back.
“Not only that, everything was still there. His computer, his passports, everything. So clearly something went wrong.”
Mr Kopanev has been described as a “very sweet person, very smart and the kind of person that nurtures really strong friendships”.
While he sometimes travelled alone, his friends say he knew Brazil very well having visited a number of times and was aware of how to avoid dangers.
The Foreign Office confirmed it is in contact with authorities in Brazil, following reports of a British man being missing in Rio.
Mr Garcia Blum said: “We’re terrified, we keep thinking maybe he will turn up in a hospital and be fine but we just don’t know.
“There’s something very off about it. I mean, he could have been kidnapped and they're trying to drain all his accounts. I don't know.
“As friends, we’re trying to hold on hope. We send each other pictures of him because we love him and we’re saying we’ll do everything we can to get him back alive.”
Denis Kopanev was last seen wearing a beige jacket and trousers, a dark baseball cap and a white shirt.
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