MOSCOW(Sputnik) – Banning Russian athletes from 2016 Rio Paralympics is a "shameful history" and a crime, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.
"These names will be go down in history, in a shameful history, of course. Because a crime was committed today…That must be a lesson for us, that must be a personal challenge for us, that is a personal challenge for me," Zakharova told Vesti FM radio broadcaster.
The doping scandal involving Russian athletes, simmering since 2014, escalated in July when an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission published a report accusing Russia of state-run doping program and urging the International Olympic Committee to consider a blanket ban on the entire Russian team. According to WADA, 35 of so-called disappearing positive test results have been allegedly found in Paralympic sport.
