Boris A. Berezovsky.

If anyone had reason to sympathize with jailed Russian mogul Mikhail Khodorkovsky last week, it was Boris Abramovich Berezovsky. He was among the leading members of Boris Yeltsin's Kremlin "family," a group of businessmen and courtiers considered the power behind the throne during the last years of Yeltsin's rule. Back then the controversial tycoon had reason to be proud of his reputation as Russia's top oligarch, one of a group of politically connected businessmen who acquired vast interests in banks, oil companies, television stations and newspapers in a series of controversial privatization deals in the mid-1990s. As the don of Russia's newly moneyed elite, he played a key role in bringing to power Yeltsin's chosen successor, a little-known bureaucrat from St. Petersburg named Vladimir Putin.

But Berezovsky quickly fell afoul of Putin, and he left for self- imposed exile in London in 2000. Shortly after, Berezovsky became the first of Russia's oligarchs subjected to a criminal investigation, and was a wanted man in Russia. It's an honor he now shares with fellow mogul Khodorkovsky, who was arrested last month on fraud charges, which many consider to be politically motivated. Berezovsky spoke to NEWSWEEK's Owen Matthews last week from his office in London:

MATTHEWS: Were you surprised by the arrest of Khodorkovsky?

BEREZOVSKY: It wasn't news to me. In 2000 I warned all businessmen that this was what was going to happen. Khodorkovsky was the captain of the business class, so it's not a surprise to me that he became a victim of the new authoritarian regime in Russia. Nevertheless this is a significant development.

Why?

Khodorkovsky was the biggest and the most transparent capitalist in Russia. If the Kremlin can do this to him, they can do it to absolutely anyone. It proves that Russia's judicial system is the absolute servant of the executive. The main basis of the rule of law in Russia has been destroyed--the separation of powers between the judiciary and the Kremlin.

Do you think Putin has overstepped the mark?