Moscow/Nyon, Switzerland (dpa) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev vowed on Thursday to never acknowledge accusations of widespread abuse of performance-enhancing drugs among the country‘s top athletes."They keep demanding that we confess to some programmes. This will never happen. We cannot and will not recognize false findings," Medvedev said in comments carried by state news agency TASS.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday suspended Russia on accusations of widespread, state-sponsored doping schemes in the country and at the 2014 Games in Sochi. The IOC has also imposed Olympic life bans on 25 Russian athletes.Russia will not be allowed to send a national team to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February. Individual Russian athletes will still be able to compete.Medvedev condemned the accusations, saying they have been based on "outright lies."The doping allegations have been widely perceived in Russia as being politically motivated by Western rivals. Russia topped the medal table at the 2014 Games but has now lost 11 medals, four of them gold, as the IOC banned 25 of its athletes for life.The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it would first defend the interests of athletes before making any decision on punishing officials.Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who was sports minister at the time and also banned for life by the IOC, said on Thursday that he would resign if called upon by the country‘s leadership. Mutko is also chief organizer of next year‘s football World Cup in Russia, and Europe‘s ruling body UEFA said after an executive committee meeting Thursday that a possible intervention at the ruling body FIFA on his role was no issue at the moment."The issue wasn‘t on today‘s agenda," UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said, adding that developments were "too fresh" to take a position.FIFA had said in a statement Tuesday the IOC/doping affair had no impact on World Cup preparations.Ceferin, a FIFA vice-president in his function as UEFA boss, added that he he personally has a zero tolerance position in the doping issue.Also present at the UEFA meetings in Nyon was Russia‘s Alexei Sorokin who took over the FIFA council seat from Mutko earlier in the year, and echoed Ceferin‘s statements."It is no issue in football. And it wasn‘t an issue here," Sorokin said.
