Russia Condemns 'Biased' Arms Dealer Sentence

Russian "Merchant of Death" arms smuggler Viktor Bout has been jailed
for 25 years by a US judge - a sentence branded "baseless and biased"
by Moscow.
Bout was accused of selling arms to despots and insurgency groups
embroiled in some of the world's bloodiest conflicts.
But the Russian Foreign Ministry condemned his sentence for conspiring
to sell weapons to anti-American guerrillas in Colombia and said it
would do all it could to ensure his return home.
"The Russian foreign ministry views the US court verdict sentencing
Viktor Bout to 25 years in prison as baseless and biased," the
ministry said in a statement.

"(We will make) all possible efforts to return Viktor Bout to the
Motherland, using for this all the existing international legal
mechanisms."
The 45-year-old was the subject of a book titled Merchant of Death and
the inspiration for an arms smuggler character played by Nicolas Cage
in the film Lord of War.
US district judge Shira Scheindlin decided to give Bout the minimum
required sentence of 25 years on one count and 15 years for each of
the three other counts of which he was found guilty, to run
concurrently.
"Twenty-five years is sufficient," Ms Scheindlin said after Bout made
a statement to the court in Manhattan, insisting he was innocent.
When a prosecutor said in court that Bout agreed to sell weapons to
kill Americans, Bout shouted: "It's a lie."
He told the judge he "never intended to kill anyone" and "God knows this truth".
The sentencing had been delayed twice, with Bout's lawyer demanding
more time to prepare his request for leniency and accusing prosecutors
of "outrageous government conduct" in allegedly entrapping the
Russian.
The US government had asked for him to be imprisoned for life.
Bout was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008 after a US Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) sting operation and extradited to New
York in November 2010 to face trial.
American informants had posed as arms buyers from the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, known as Farc, and met with Bout in Thailand
to buy an arsenal of military weaponry, which prosecutors said he
agreed to provide.
Two DEA informants who posed as Farc leaders testified for the
prosecution at Bout's trial.
A former Bout business associate, Andrew Smulian, also testified for
the government after pleading guilty to participating in the Farc
deal.
According to prosecutors, in a meeting at a Bangkok hotel with the
supposed Farc representatives, Bout agreed to sell the 100 advanced
man-portable surface-to-air missiles or the approximately 5,000 AK-47
assault rifles that were discussed.
Bout, convicted in November, was charged only in connection with the
suspected arms deal.
But US authorities have said he was involved in trafficking arms since
the 1990s to dictators and conflict zones in Africa, South America and
the Middle East.
Washington classifies Farc, a Marxist-inspired guerrilla army, as a
terrorist organisation and says it is deeply involved in the cocaine
trade.