Title : Video: Russian athletes stunned over Winter Olympics ban
link : Video: Russian athletes stunned over Winter Olympics ban
Video: Russian athletes stunned over Winter Olympics ban
- Russia banned from next year's Olympics in South Korea amid doping scandal
- Putin's spokesman said it would be 'wrong to give into emotions' over IOC ruling
- But other ministers said the ban was part of a Western plot 'to restrain Russia'
- Video has emerged showing the moment athletes learned they were barred
This is the moment Russia's would-be Winter Olympians learned they would not be competing in next year's event.
Some walked from the room in disgust as the International Olympics Committee issued a blanket ban to the team, while others sat with their heads in their hands.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday appealed for calm over the decision and said Russia must carefully consider its options before responding.
But some government officials were not so measured in their response, suggesting the ban was part of a Western plot.
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Some competitors will be invited to participate as an 'Olympic Athlete from Russia' without their flag or anthem
The International Olympic Committee announced the decision on Tuesday after examining evidence of state-sponsored doping that reached its peak during the 2014 Winter Olympics
Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the Russian parliament's upper house, said the ruling is 'clearly part of the West's policy to restrain Russia'.
But he also insisted that local sports officials were to blame for the doping and 'ought to bear personal responsibility' for letting it happen.
Vladimir Poletayev, deputy chairman of the committee on procedures at the Federation Council, went even further.
'All our sports officials, including the Russian Olympic Committee, ought to be personally accountable for the ban on Russia and ought to step down,' he said.
Mr Peskov told a gathering of reporters that 'we need to put emotions aside' and 'make a serious analysis' of the ruling before taking any steps.
He also said Russia 'still needs to answer some questions' from the IOC.
Asked if the Russian officials who have been barred from attending the Olympics would be penalised or sacked, Mr Peskov insisted that is not a priority and that 'protecting the interests of our athletes' is more important.
Athletes who can prove they are clean will be allowed to compete as 'an Olympic Athlete from Russia' without their flag or anthem.
Russia also announced on Wednesday that 22 athletes banned for life after the Sochi Winter Olympics, where the doping scandal was expose, will be appealing the ban.
Russia's systemic doping was brought to the world's attention over the last three years by whistleblowers working on the inside. Pictured: Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko
Russia's deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko, pictured, is one of the officials who has been sanctioned by the IOC
It said the athletes had asked CAS to rule before the start of the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea, on February 9.
Russian state television has already said it will not broadcast the games in protest at the ban, while Putin has raised the prospect of boycotting the games entirely.
While he has yet to speak about the latest IOC ruling, he previously said that competing without national symbols would be 'humiliating'.
As well as the immediate suspension, the IOC announced a raft of sanctions against senior officials implicated in the scandal, including Russia's deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko.
It has also fined the ROC 15 million US dollars (£11.16million) to reimburse the costs of the various investigations into Russia's cheating and help set up the IOC's new independent testing authority.
The ban is set to cause a major impact on next year's competition in Pyeongchang, South Korea - particularly in disciplines like figure skating, cross-country skiing, speed skating and bobsleigh.
Russia's systemic doping was brought to the world's attention over the last three years by whistleblowers working on the inside, most notably the ex-director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory Dr Grigory Rodchenkov.
Having fled to the United States in November 2015, Rodchenkov is now in witness protection and has been cooperating with investigations led by the IOC.
Before Tuesday's decision, his lawyer Jim Walden said he believed 'too much evidence has come out' for the IOC to impose the sanction many thought was most likely earlier this year, a large fine.
Walden added: 'If they were to do that, it would be incredibly unwise and only embolden the cheats.
'What looks most likely now is that Russia will be prevented from competing officially in Pyeongchang.
'So no anthem, no flag. But athletes not implicated will be allowed to prove themselves clean so they can compete as individuals.'
The ban is set to cause a major impact on next year's competition in Pyeongchang, South Korea - particularly in figure skating, cross-country skiing, speed skating and bobsleigh
Speaking earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) accused the United States of putting indirect pressure on the IOC to block Russia from the Games in South Korea
The investigation said the cheating peaked at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
During the games there Russian secret agents are said to have engineered an elaborate system of state-backed doping.
Speaking on Tuesday, the author of the IOC investigation report told journalists that he had found 'systemic manipulation' by Russia.
Samuel Schmid told journalists: 'The results are not based only on (whistleblower) Grigoory Rodchenkov's testimony.
'There is scientific evidence, witness statements documents and correspondence.
'The facts are that in Russia there was systemic manipulation of doping and the anti-doping system that also took place at Sochi 2014.'
In the past week a raft of bans have been handed out to the country's 2014 medallists.
In total the country was stripped of 11 of its 33 medals meaning it has lost its position at the top of the Sochi table to Norway - slipping to fourth place.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of putting indirect pressure on the IOC to block Russia from the Games in South Korea.
He warned if the IOC left Russia out in the cold, it would cause 'serious harm to the Olympic movement'.
Putin said: 'There are two options. Either forcing Russia to compete under a neutral flag or not letting it go to the Olympics at all. Either one is humiliation for the country.'
Nations have in the past been barred from taking part in the Olympics, notably South Africa during the apartheid years, but none has ever been handed a blanket ban over doping.
British heptathlete's anger over stolen limelight
British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton has spoken of her anger at being cheated out of the limelight at the 2008 Olympics.
Sotherton finished fifth in Beijing but was yesterday awarded a bronze medal after both athletes in front of her were disqualified for doping.
Ukrainian Lyudmila Blonska was stripped of her fourth-place finish in 2008, while Russia's Tatyana Chernova was forced to give her bronze to Sotherton on Tuesday after her appeal was turned down.
Kelly Sotherton acknowledged that her medal was 'better late than never' but vented her anger at being cheated out of the spotlight in 2008
While Sotherton acknowledged the medal was 'better late than never', she also tweeted a picture of her despondent face as she crossed the line in China.
She wrote: 'This would have been the moment I knew I had won a medal. Instead looking on, knowing two athletes ahead of me cheated their way to Olympic medals. Will never get those few moments back, ever.'
It is the second time that Sotherton, now 41, has been upgraded to an Olympic medal because of doping.
Belarus and Russia were belatedly eliminated from the 2008 4x400m - where Britain finished fifth -after retrospective testing showed drug abuse.
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