ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Even before the announcement that Russia’s track and field team would be barred from the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, President Vladimir V. Putin was incensed.
He said Friday that the allegations of doping against his country’s athletes were part of a politically motivated “anti-Russia policy” by the West.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is a global problem, he said at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, and Russia has been unfairly singled out.
“This cannot be a foundation for building anti-Russia policy,” Mr. Putin said.