MOSCOW The embezzlement trial of Kremlin foe Boris Berezovsky was opened and adjourned yesterday in his absence.

A court-appointed lawyer for the tycoon, who is exiled in London and refused to take part in what he calls a politically motivated farce, won a two-week postponement to read up on the case.

Berezovsky, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, told said last month that the trial was part of an effort by Russian authorities to draw attention away from the poisoning death of his associate Alexander Litvinenko, for which he blames Putin's Kremlin.

Berezovsky is charged with embezzling £4m from Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot in the 1990s and laundering some of the money, as well as with fraud.

He fled to Britain in 2000 to avoid prosecution and the UK has refused Russian requests for his extradition.

Russia, in turn, has refused to extradite Andrey Lugovoi, whom British prosecutors named as a suspect in the Litvinenko case.

Berezovsky's confrontation with the Kremlin has deepened over the poisoning of Litvinenko, an ally and fellow Putin critic who died in London in November after receiving a dose of radioactive polonium.

Litvinenko, on his deathbed, blamed Putin for his poisoning, as has Berezovsky.-AP