The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday upheld a decision to ban Russian track and field athletes from the 2016 Olympic Games over allegations of a state-sanctioned doping regime.
The International Association of Athletics Federations, the athletics world governing body, had banned Russian athletes after uncovering alleged widespread doping.
The Russian Olympic Committee and 68 individual athletes appealed the ruling, but the court upheld the ban, finding it complied with the rules.
The Kremlin expressed “deep regret” over the decision, arguing it was unfair.
“The idea of collective responsibility from our point of view can hardly be considered acceptable,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists, the AFP reports.
Russia’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko told the TASS agency that the ruling was “subjective and somewhat politicized,” and claimed it had “no legal basis.”
The International Olympic Committee is now separately considering whether to ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics after another report found more widespread state-sponsored doping.