Advice, I'd like some. A simple opinion, regarding a friendship that's suddenly at risk?

I have a friend, I only knew him through the internet, met him on a web journal site. for 3 years we web chatted, we got to know each other. It was nothing strange, we never considered us to be "Online bf/gf" while we did say things such as "I wuv joo!" and while I admit I could tell me both dreamt about meeting one other one day, but we kept it on the downlow to prevent anything getting awkward. In any case, for 3 years we communicated very. I found him interesting because he was from a different country than me. I considered him my best friend for 3 years because I could talk to him about anything, and he gave me the best advice and told me the nicest things. He was a truly perfect friend. Now he's recently stopped talking to me as much, and I want to push the subject on him. I want to question him about why he's drifting away from me, and I want to tell him that I miss him with all my heart...but....should I leave it alone? Would it be stupid to push it on someone I've never truly met? He's said things before such as "If i didn't like who you were as a person I wouldn't talk to you, I'd just stop and ignore you" and lately he's been doing just that. We talk very little, and his responces are very weak. He's stopped using Skype (where we talked the most, Skype mobile on his phone) and now we only talk sometimes on the Web journal site or Facebook, when he is online. I know it sounds stupid, but you have to understand I felt closer to him than anyone else, and he was that someone I could always lean on. Now that he's drifting away from me, would it be wise to just let it happen and not bother him? I don't want to seem crazy, I don't want to put off a "I fell in love with you" vibe, as I believe that is truly insane to love someone you've never met. I can't stand it when people say "OHH I LOVE MY ONLINE BF" so I don't want to put off such a vibe to him. I don't want to see needy, but I also don't want to loose him. It will be strange not having him to always talk to and lean on when life kicks me in the butt, it will...hurt. What should I do? Let it happen, or would it be okay to truly talk to him about it? (I've tired to bring up the subject, by dancing around it and dropping hints, but every time he dodges my attempts) So should I just be black and white about it? Or let it go..Sorry for typing so much.