Vladimir Putin: Paralympic ban is 'outside morality and humanity'
By Paul Vinnell
Last Updated: 25/08/16 12:48pm
A ban imposed on Russia's Paralympic team to compete in Rio is cynical and immoral, according to the country's president Vladimir Putin.
Putin acknowledged that mistakes had been made and that he would improve the national anti-doping system.
Putin, who was addressing Russian athletes returning from Rio, also said that international anti-doping organisations were subject to political pressure.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Tuesday that Russia had lost its appeal against a ban from next month's Rio Paralympics.
"The decision to disqualify our Paralympic team is outside the law, outside morality and outside humanity," Putin said.
"It is simply cynical to vent one's anger on those for whom sport has become the meaning of their life...I even feel pity for those taking such decisions because they must well understand that it is so demeaning for them."
Russia's track and field team was excluded from the Rio Games that just ended after world anti-doping authorities alleged Moscow ran a state-sponsored sports doping programme.
The entire Russian Paralympic team has also been barred over the same doping allegations.
Putin said international anti-doping organisations had singled out Russia for harsh treatment because they were subject to political pressure.
Russia's Olympic team finished this month's Games in Rio in fourth place.
Putin said the result could have been better if a third of Russian competitors had not been excluded.
"I used to say this before...and I still believe that these international anti-doping structures ... should be rid of political pressure," Putin said.
Putin said the decision to bar Russian athletes, including those who had not tested positive for any banned substances, was a vivid manifestation "of how the humanistic foundations of sport and Olympism are shamelessly flouted by politics".
