'Ban on Russian athletes' participation in Paralympics a crime'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the ban on Russian athletes' participation in the Rio Paralympic Games is a crime.

"Such decisions were made on the basis of collective responsibility," Zakharova said on Tuesday on Vesti FM radio, reports Tass. "These people have no relation to doping. A crime was committed today."

"I want to immediately tell those who will say 'there's no smoke without fire': let's take a simple story," she added.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the Russian Paralympic Committee's (RPC) appeal against its ban from the upcoming Rio Olympics.

"Let's assume that the Reuters agency published an article with many inconsistencies, irrelevant things about Crimea. And let's assume the decision is made that the agency loses its accreditation in Russia, and then the decision is made that all British media are expelled for company's sake," Zakharova said.

"Who can tell us anything against that decision? International structures now make such decisions. Our Paralympians have got it," she said.

Zakharova said some time will pass and the public will learn how such decisions were made and under what pressure.

"We will get to know everything; names involved in it will be written into infamous history," she said.

--IANS

sam/bg