MOSCOW, Feb. 5 -- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday denounced the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to bar 15 Russian athletes from the Winter Olympic Games as shameful, unfair and unlawful.

"The IOC commission has taken a shameful decision," Medvedev wrote on Facebook, adding, "This decision is unfair, unlawful, and it was immoral and politicized."

The IOC invitation review panel earlier on Monday decided not to invite to the PyeongChang Winter Games 15 Russian athletes who were previously banned for life from Olympics for violation of anti-doping regulations, though the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday.

"By refusing to allow the athletes to perform at PyeongChang, whose appeals have been upheld by the CAS, a court that has been created for dealing with disputes related to sport, the IOC commission has trampled down the Olympic Charter and elementary principles of law," Medvedev posted.

The IOC has argued that as yet unpublished new evidence -- not examined in the CAS process -- has given rise to new doping suspicions about the 15 athletes.

Medvedev said the "purpose of this decision is very far away from sports," aimed to cause "political harm" to Russia.

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