Russia Says Sentencing of Viktor Bout Hurts Relations With U.S. MOSCOW - Russia lashed out on Friday over the sentencing of a convicted Russian arms trafficker to 25 years in prison, calling the decision by a New York court "baseless and biased" and warning that it could hamper relations between Moscow and Washington. A Federal District Court judge in Manhattan sentenced the arms trafficker, Viktor Bout, on Thursday. Mr. Bout was convicted last fall of conspiring to kill Americans after attempting to sell weapons to undercover American agents posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. "The American justice system, clearly carrying out a political order, ignored the arguments of lawyers and multiple appeals from different spheres made in the defense of this Russian citizen," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Russia has vocally opposed every stage of Mr. Bout's four-year legal drama, which began in March 2008 when agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested him in Thailand. There, American agents reportedly enticed him with an offer to buy millions of dollars worth of military equipment, including AK-47s, missiles, and ultralight airplanes, a deal to which he apparently agreed. Russian officials have described the case as a conspiracy that involved government collusion with the courts, the American media and even Hollywood. Mr. Bout is said to have been the inspiration behind the 2005 film "Lord of War," staring Nicolas Cage. "Long before the sentence against Bout was delivered, the government anointed him the "merchant of death" and practically an international terrorist," the ministry statement said. "The smear campaign unleashed by the American media had the goal of influencing the jury and the trial in the "needed direction." " The ministry said it would take all necessary measures to return Mr. Bout to Russia, though it did not say what those measures would be. Aleskei Pushkov, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's Parliament, called on President Obama to pardon Mr. Bout and allow for his return to Russia. It is an outcome that seems unlikely given the November election and recent criticism of the White House for appearing to grant Russia too much flexibility in talks over missile defense. Still, Mr. Pushkov told the Interfax news agency that Moscow would consider the Obama administration's next steps in the case to be a litmus test for future relations. "Unfortunately, Bout's sentence along with other conflicts creates an unfavorable basis for a new stage of Russian-American relations," he said.