U.S. sentence of Russian arms dealer biased: Russia This file photo taken on March 8, 2008 shows alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout w...

U.S. sentence of Russian arms dealer biased: Russia

This file photo taken on March 8, 2008 shows alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout waiting at a detention center at a criminal court in Bangkok. Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was flown out of Thailand on November 16, 2010 on a special jet to face trial in the United States, bringing to an end months of legal wrangling over his extradition. (Xinhua/AFP)

MOSCOW, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Moscow on Friday chided the United States for sentencing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to 25 years in prison, calling the verdict biased and politically motivated。

Bout's verdict was not substantiated by evidence and the U.S. legal authorities fulfilled an "obvious political contract," neglecting arguments and addresses from various levels in defense of the Russian citizen, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement。

Moscow would take all necessary efforts to bring Bout back to homeland in all possible political, diplomatic and legal ways, the ministry said, adding this issue certainly remained among priorities on Russia-U.S. agenda。

Meanwhile, Konstantin Dolgov, the ministry's representative for human rights, democracy and law, told local media this was already not the first politically biased verdict relied on shaky evidence, and not the first case of violation of legitimate rights and interests of Russian citizens by U.S. authorities。

"The whole situation about Bout confirms serious problems in the U.S. legal system, its selective and biased nature for trials," Dolgov said. "Unfortunately, we have many examples to this."

In February, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow did not see any objective evidence of Bout's guilt。

Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as "the Merchant of Death," was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday in Manhattan, New York for attempting to sell weapons to Colombian terrorists who were targeting Americans. The judge also ordered a 15 million-U.S.-dollar forfeiture。

Prosecutors said Bout was ready to sell up to 20 million dollars in weapons including surface-to-air missiles to shoot down U.S. helicopters. U.S. authorities also said that Bout has sold weapons to dictators and guerrilla forces in Africa, South America and the Middle East。

Bout was arrested in 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was caught in a sting operation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Then he was extradited to the United States in 2010.

The arms dealer, 45, is thought to be the inspiration for Nicolas Cage's arms dealing character in the 2005 film "Lord of War."