Russian Olympic delegation parades into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olymics at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Meng Yongmin)
MOSCOW, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- An appeal has been filed against the decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to ban Russian athletes from the Rio Paralympic Games, a senior Russian sports official said Sunday.
"We have just lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). It will be considered in accordance with the established procedure," said President of All-Russia Sport Federation f the Physically Disabled Lev Seleznev.
Earlier in the day, the IPC released a statement on suspending Russian athletes from 2016 Rio Paralympics "with immediate effect."
The Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko called the decision "unprecedented," voicing support for the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) to resort to legal means, as reported by R-Sport, a sports division of RIA Novosti news agency.
Criticising the decision as absurd and inhumane, President of the RPC Vladimir Lukin claimed there is no proof of the McLaren report's accusation of Russia's alleged state doping system, nor RPC's involvement in it.
The IPC has opened suspension proceedings against the RPC following the publication of the McLaren Report and additional information it has since received from the report's author.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published the independent McLaren Investigation Report on July 18, which said Russian State manipulated the doping control process and recommended that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bans Russia entirely from the Rio Olympic Games.
The IOC refused to hand a blanket ban on Russia and instead opted to leave it up to individual sports to allow or bar Russian athletes.
All together 278 Russian athletes have been cleared for the Rio 2016 Olympics with an initial apply from Russian side of a 387-member national team.
