- CAS rejects Russian appeal against Paralympics ban decision
- Two-thirds of Russians surveyed slam ban on Paralympics as political tool
- Paralympic Committee chief confident blanket ban will be lifted from Russian team
- Russian legislator says Paralympics held hostage by political games
- Russian Civic Chamber asks UN to assess ban of Paralympians from Rio
MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to confirm Russia’s ban from next month’s Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is more political than judicial, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told TASS on Tuesday.
"The decision is not in the legal framework - it's more political than judicial. There were no reasons to dismiss [the appeal], but it happened," Mutko said.
"We will study the possibility of further steps, and probably take a decision," the minister said, expressing regrets that "those bodies that should defend Paralympians do not do it and punish them instead."
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) earlier suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) and banned Russian athletes from this year’s Games following the report of the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) led by Richard McLaren. The RPC sent an appeal to the CAS on August 15.
On Tuesday, the CAS dismissed the appeal filed by the RPC confirming that the Russian team would not be allowed to compete in the Paralympic Games.