Putin: The suspension of Russian athletes is a political decision

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the politics behind the decision to ban Russian athletes from all international competitions until 2023.

On Monday, WADA suspended athletes from Russia for alleged tampering with laboratory data, so Russian athletes will not be able to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as well as the World Cup in Qatar two years later.

"Every punishment since Roman law should be individual and based on what a person has done. The punishment cannot be collective and cannot affect those people who did not commit a crime," Putin said after the meeting of the Normandy Four in Paris, then added:

"I think the experts from WADA understand it well. If one of them makes decisions about collective punishment, I think it can be assumed that the basis of such a decision is not concern for the purity of international sport, but a political decision, which has nothing to do with the interests of sport or the Olympic movement".

The first man of Russia announced the appeal.

"If there are no complaints against a country, then it must compete under its own flag. This is written in the Olympic Charter. This means that WADA's decision violates the Charter. We have grounds for appeal," Putin said.