8 August 2016, 11:18 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In July, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) urged the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to suspend Russian Paralympic team from the September 7-18 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro following a report of the WADA independent commission led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, alleging that Russia had run a state-controlled doping program.
On Sunday, the IPC imposed a blanket ban on Russian Paralympic athletes, giving the RPC until August 28 to appeal the decision.
"Quite suddenly, on July 22, we received a letter on the suspension of the RPC membership in the IPC. The motive of the suspension was the McLaren report. Most of these accusations were addressed to our Olympic movement…. The athletes are absolutely clean, their samples were tested repeatedly, and tested by foreign laboratories, such as the WADA and the UK Anti-Doping organization (UKAD)," Lukin told reporters.
He expressed regret that the 278-member Russian Paralympic team was suspended from the "loved job."
