MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) intends to file an appeal against the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) decision to suspend the Russian organization of its membership rights, RPC President Pavel Rozhkov said on Thursday.

"The IPC Charter stipulates an option for us to file an appeal and we are currently reviewing all the documents on this appeal," Rozhkov told journalists. "However, not all of them [documents] are available on the IPC official website and we submitted a request to be provided with all documents - both on the handed decision and the required package of documents to file an appeal."

"We believe that we have ample grounds [to file an appeal]. There are no claims whatsoever regarding a failure to follow the Charter," Rozhkov added.

On Wednesday, at an extraordinary general assembly, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) from membership in the organization.

"It should be understood that we have no illusions about an unbiased approach," Rozhov stated. "We can turn to all IPC courts authorized by the IPC, and we have such plans, but considering the overall political situation it will not be easy."

RPC ongoing spat with IPC

On August 7, 2016, the International Paralympic committee (the IPC) decided to bar the entire Russian team from taking part in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on August 23, 2016 upheld the IPC’s ruling that came on the heels of a report delivered a month earlier by the WADA Independent Commission, chaired by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren.

Besides collectively punishing the Russian national team by banning it from the Rio Games, the IPC also decided to suspend the RPC’s membership in the international organization.

However, the team of Russian athletes, led by Rozhkov, was allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where it finished in 4th place in the overall medals standings among the rest of the national participants.

Para athletes from Russia also participated in the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang on a neutral status, dubbed as the Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA), as the RPC’s membership with the IPC (the International Paralympic Committee) was suspended at that time.

Russia’s so-called ‘neutral’ team of Para athletes brought home a total of 24 medals in PyeongChang, including eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze, ranking second in the overall medal count at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics, after the national team of the United States.