There was never going to be any other result. Today in Russia, challenging Putin is like standing in front of a tank. Either get out of the way or be flattened.
Putin is relentless and unpitying when dealing with those he sees as enemies. But he follows an established tradition of Russian leadership, and the public seems to like it, giving him approval ratings of 70% or above.
But the lengths (and depths) to which he appears ready to go have fostered the belief, as publicised by WikiLeaks, that Russia has become a corrupt "mafia state" under him.
An early example of the vendetta as a policy tool came in 1999 when Putin, then a largely unknown appointee of President Boris Yeltsin, took down Yuri Skuratov, Russia's powerful prosecutor-general. Putin held a press conference to discuss a video, aired on state-controlled television, in which a naked man similar in appearance to Skuratov was shown cavorting with two young women.
Putin said that the women were prostitutes paid for by criminals.Skuratov's real offence appears to be a high-profile corruption investigation involving Yeltsin and his inner-circle, of which Putin was a part. Skuratov hit back after the expose, accusing Putin of personally shielding corrupt Kremlin aides. But the following year, with Putin installed as the president-elect, Russia's parliament decided (with only 10 votes against) to sack Skuratov at Putin's express request. Like Khodorkovsky, he was finished.
Putin's ruthlessness was seen again and again as he cemented his grip on power following Yeltsin's departure.
Opposition parties were crushed under the juggernaut of United Russia, Putin's home-made political platform. Able politicians such as Mikhail Kasyanov, whom he appointed prime minister, were discarded when they showed too much independence.
And unbiddable former patrons such as the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, now in exile in London, became persona non grata.
Even after more than a decade as president and prime minister, Putin remains unbending. Speaking this month, he accused the opposition figures Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Milov and Vladimir Ryzhkov of seeking power "to line their pockets". He went on: "I think that if we allow them to do this . . . they'll sell out all of Russia." The three vowed to sue him for "moral damages".
In 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist and rights activist who opposed Putin's policies in Chechnya, was assassinated. Despite a state investigation, her murder remains unexplained.
Seen up close in Helsinki earlier this year, Putin did not look to be the ogre that his critics make him out to be. A physically small man who compensates by working out and outdoor sport, he appeared by turns arrogant, insecure, angry and resentful. It could explain his aggression towards those who criticise him.
Whatever the reasons, he has exported his personal animus. The 2008 invasion of Georgia followed a long, vindictive dispute between Putin and the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili. Much the same poisonous dynamic applied in Putin's dealing with Ukraine's former Orange Revolution leader, Viktor Yushchenko.
By refusing to back down, Khodorkovsky is only the latest to fall foul of Putin's vendetta politics.
