• Putin says banned athletes are victims of ‘double standards’ • Russian president was speaking at Kremlin send-off for Rio Games

In a final gesture of defiance before the Rio Games, Vladimir Putin has accused the IAAF of “blatant discrimination” for banning Russia’s Olympic track and field team.

Speaking to more than 150 athletes in the Alexander Hall in the Kremlin, the Russian president also called the decision “an attempt to bring the rules of world politics into the world of sport”.

Banned Russian athletes * World Sailing banned one athlete but allowed Russia to replace with a reserve, hence seven sailors have been cleared Source: AP

Putin said the absence of athletes from the world’s largest country would also diminish the competition. Of the International Association of Athletics Federations’ decision to reject the eligibility applications of 67 of Russia’s 68-strong athletics team, Putin said in a speech broadcast on state television that it had “gone beyond legal boundaries as well as beyond the point of common sense”.

On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee decided against a blanket ban but said Russian athletes with previous doping violations or who were mentioned in the McLaren report on state-sponsored doping should not be allowed to compete.

Putin said: “The targeted campaign our athletes became the victim of included notorious double standards, a principle of collective responsibility and a cancellation of the presumption of innocence, which are incompatible with sport, or with justice, elementary legal norms.”

Russia team given rousing sendoff for Rio to ‘battle for honour and good name’ Read more

He argued that “no concrete, evidence-based accusations” had been brought against Russian athletes and said the absence of top competitors would “reduce the intensity of the struggle” and leave medal winners’ victories “tasteless”.

“We’re talking about a threat and discrediting of the principles of equality, justice, mutual respect and the rights of so-called clean athletes,” Putin said. “In essence, this is a revision or at least an attempt to revise the ideas of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.”

At the same time, Putin promised to work with the international community to fight doping, noting the anti-doping commission he announced last week.

Among the athletes in attendance were members of the track and field team, all but one of whom have been banned from Rio. The pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva gave a tearful speech after Putin.

Last week, the IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, turned down the Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko’s request that clean athletes be allowed to compete. Russian Athletics announced a Stars 2016 tournament in Moscow that will feature the athletes banned from competing in Rio, including the hurdler Sergey Shubenkov and the high jumper Mariya Kuchina, both of whom were world champions in Beijing last year. Disqualified athletes will also be entitled to the same prize money and benefits as Olympic competitors, Putin said in his speech.

Mutko, who was named in the McLaren report for being involved in the cover-up of a footballer’s positive test, has been told to stay away from the Olympics by the IOC but posed for selfies with members of the Russian team at the farewell event in Moscow.

So far 105 of the 387 athletes Russia named in their Olympic team have been barred from the Games. However, some 200 are set to go after the ruling bodies of fencing, triathlon and volleyball approved all of Russia’s proposed athletes for Rio on Wednesday.

All archery, badminton, equestrian, judo, shooting and tennis sportsmen and women have already been approved, although the decisions are subject to final review by the court of arbitration for sport. Russian media reported the taekwondo, trampoline, gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and boxing teams were also expected to be cleared for competition.

During their visit to the Kremlin, the Russian Olympic team members laid flowers at the grave of the unknown soldier and attended a prayer session at the Assumption Cathedral. On Thursday fans will have a chance to see off competitors during a ceremony at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.