Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, struck a common theme with a post on her Facebook page saying there was a constant onslaught from the West aimed at destroying Russia — world wars, the collapse of the Soviet Union and, lately, economic sanctions.

“They are always trying to put us down in everything — our way of life, our culture, our history, and now sport as well,” she wrote.

State television, which often receives Kremlin guidelines for its reporting, was notably muted, even conciliatory, even before Mr. Putin had spoken. It noted that the committee had acknowledged that Russia has tried to improve matters; that the country could appeal the decision; and that the entire affair might turn out fine. There was a marked lack of the usual jingoism, although one main state broadcaster announced within minutes of the ban that it would not show the Games.

The ban thrust Russia into its greatest international sporting crisis since before the Soviet Union collapsed, when the West led a boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The Kremlin later reciprocated, withdrawing its bloc of countries from the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

In Moscow, Vladimir Yakovchuk, a man in his 50s in a red jacket and walking down the street with his wife, groused that Russian athletes were being singled out for punishment while doping was clearly an international problem. He also hated the idea of competing under the Olympic flag.

“It will be humiliating!” he said in Russian. “They’ll be like refugees.”

But an occasional voice did mention the cause of the ban and suggest that Russia address the doping problem.

“It seems like a fair decision — there are problems in our sports with doping,” said Nikolai Lorkin, a young man with short hair and trendy eyeglasses, who blamed the Ministry of Sport in particular. “It’s impossible to do something on such a large scale without government support.”