IOC refusal to admit cleared Russian athletes political: Medvedev

MOSCOW: Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to allow Russian sports people cleared of doping allegations to take part in the forthcoming Olympic Games was political.

The IOC said earlier on Monday that 15 Russian athletes and coaches who had their lifetime bans overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport will not be invited to this month's Pyeongchang Winter Games.

"The IOC commission took a shameful decision," the RIA news agency quoted Medvedev as saying. "It was unfair and illegal, amoral and politicised."