Moscow says Russian Olympic ban designed to sour pre-election mood

[webfact]

Moscow says Russian Olympic ban designed to sour pre-election mood

 

FILE PHOTO - Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visit the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery at Istra, outside Moscow, Russia November 15, 2017. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week to ban the Russian team from next year's Winter Olympics had been deliberately taken to sour the pre-election mood.

 

Medvedev was referring to a March presidential election in which incumbent Vladimir Putin is standing for re-election.

 

"This is politics," said Medvedev, in comments broadcast on state television.

 

"The decision was made in the run-up to the presidential elections in our country, aiming to create a certain mood in our society.

 

Abroad, they understand very well the importance attached in our country to high achievement in sports. For millions of our people, the decision was a heavy blow."

 

Medvedev, addressing the government, said that allegations that Russia had run a state-sponsored doping programme were "an outright lie."

 

Medvedev's comments came a month after Putin suggested that doping bans against some Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Games were an attempt to sow discontent ahead of next year's presidential elections.

 

The IOC on Tuesday banned Russia from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics after evidence emerged of "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system but left the door open for some Russians to compete as neutrals if they demonstrate they have a doping-free background.

 

Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would not prevent its athletes from competing in Pyeongchang as neutrals, damping down calls from some Russians to boycott the Games.

 

Russia is expected to make a final decision on its stance regarding the IOC ban at a meeting of Russian Olympic authorities next week.

 

In the weeks ahead of the decision, the IOC banned more than 20 Russian athletes for life from the Olympics as a result of an investigation into the alleged tampering of Russian athletes' positive tests by laboratory and security officials at the 2014 Sochi Games.

 

Russian authorities have never acknowledged the state's alleged role in the scandal but have pledged to work with international sports bodies to help curb the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the country.

 

Russia's athletics federation, Paralympic Committee and national anti-doping agency RUSADA remain suspended over doping scandals.

 

(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh/Dmitry Solovyov; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Toby Davis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-08

[craigt3365]

Great way to deflect.  Blame others, as usual.

[Samui Bodoh]

46 minutes ago, webfact said:

Moscow says Russian Olympic ban designed to sour pre-election mood

 

OR

 

It is because you are a pack of lying cheaters.

 

[Langsuan Man]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

Great way to deflect.  Blame others, as usual.

And we wonder where Trump learned this technique 

[spidermike007]

King Vlad is much like Trump, in many regards. The chief quality they share in common, is their hatred of the media, and the free press. They have little tolerance for criticism, and both despise truth. Truth is the enemy. Truth is too revealing, of their faults, and their excesses. Truth must be squashed. Since Trump cannot control the media with extreme censorship, he uses his fake media narrative, to excess. Putin can control the media. He squashes all freedom of the press, and if a reporter is out of line, he executes them, without any consequences. 

 

Russia deserved this ban. They had it coming. They were caught red handed. King Vlad assumed his draconian power would keep anyone involved in the program from speaking out. Well, the weasel was wrong. Now, he is making up this narrative about the Olympics, and the election. Pure, unadulterated BS. He simply wants to retain power, as he enjoys being a dictator, a bit too much. And he figures he can use the extra $10-20 billion he will earn. 

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

"The decision was made in the run-up to the presidential elections in our country, aiming to create a certain mood in our society.

If true that would be karma for Russia's interference in US 2016 elections.

Putin's best move now is to get Trump to pull the US out of the Olympics - something Trump is considering.*

* It's the U.S. Olympic Committee, it's not the president or anyone else in the  administration who can decide to skip an Olympics.

http://www.12news.com/sports/olympics/verify-can-trump-pull-us-out-of-olympics/497698054

 

 

 

[hawker9000]

20 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

And we wonder where Trump learned this technique 

 Nobody with two extra brain cells to rub together need wonder, as we all had eight years of listening to Obama's famously incessant mastery of the "technique", a proud tradition being carried on even now by his losing would-be successor.

 

 

 

[Thongkorn]

Get real , Russia has been doping for years,  In the past some times it was difficult to distinguish male from female in some track events,