Russian PM says doping allegations are part of new anti-Russia campaign

The IOC has so far found 22 winter Russian athletes guilty of drug abuse after allegations of a state-sponsored doping programme first emerged

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the allegations 'political manipulations' (Getty)

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has hit out at allegations that Russian athletes used doping during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, labelling the claims as “political manipulations” part of a new anti-Russian campaign.

The International Olympic Committee is currently re-testing all Russian athletes' samples from the event after Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow's discredited anti-doping laboratory, blew the whistle on what he said was a state-sponsored doping programme.

The IOC has so far found 22 winter Russian athletes guilty of drug abuse. Earlier this week two Russian crews in the four-man bobsleigh were disqualified as a result of the findings of the Oswald Commission hearings into state-sponsored doping during the 2014 Winter Games.

The decision ensures Great Britain will land a retrospective bronze medal having initially finished fifth at Sochi 2014.

But Prime Minister Medvedev has dismissed the allegations made against Russia’s winter athletes, arguing that a “political campaign” is currently being waged against the country.

"That (Sochi Olympics) was a brilliant victory and no foreign forces can make us believe the opposite ... This angle has become a cornerstone of the political campaign against Russia," Medvedev said in an interview with Russian television channels broadcast live.

This follows the publication of a series of diary entries from Rodchenkov in the New York Times which are expected to be used as further evidence when the IOC decides Russia's fate for the upcoming Olympics.

Included in the diary were details of discussions and meetings with Vitaly Mutko, who was the country's sports minister at the time and is now deputy prime minister. Rodchenkov also wrote about meetings with Yuri Nagornykh, the former deputy sports minister, and Irina Rodionova, the former deputy director of the center of sports preparation of national teams of Russia.