The Kremlin has dismissed allegations that Russia had run a sophisticated doping program at the last Winter Olympics as treacherous slander, calling the ex-head of the country's doping laboratory a turncoat.
Two Russian winter sportsmen - named as cheats by Grigory Rodchenkov, the former anti-doping laboratory chief who had since fled to the United States - also denied wrongdoing, saying the charges were part of a campaign to besmirch the name of Russian sport.
Russia, already battling to overturn a ban on its athletes at August's Rio Olympic Games, has been thrown on the defensive after a New York Times report, citing Rodchenkov as saying he had conducted a doping program at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics which included at least 15 medal winners.
The allegations complicate Russia's efforts to distance itself from previous accusations of state-sponsored doping made by an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission, pile pressure on Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and are likely to make it harder for Moscow to overturn the Rio athletics ban.
"These allegations look absolutely groundless," Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told reporters. "They are not substantiated by any trustworthy data; they are not backed by any sort of documents. All this simply looks like slander by a turncoat."
The Kremlin had not changed its view of Mutko in light of the new accusations, Peskov said. Mutko, who has been in his position since 2008, has called the allegations nonsense.
Asked about the prospects of Russian track and field athletes being allowed to compete in Rio, Peskov said: "We hope everything will be fine".
Two of the sportsmen named by the Times, cross-country skier Alexander Legkov and bobsledder Alexander Zubkov, on Friday rejected the allegations against them as "nonsense and slanderous".
"We need to take legal action against these people," Legkov told Russia's Match TV. "All of it (the allegations) is not serious, it is complete rubbish and we need to stop it.
"I performed honestly. My Olympic victory was not accidental," said Legkov who won gold and silver in Sochi.
Zubkov was equally dismissive in comments to Match TV.
"It is all nonsense and slander directed at Russian sportsmen, who took part in the Olympics. It is unacceptable."
In Nairobi, Kenya's president held talks with his top sports officials on Friday after WADA said the east African country did not comply with its anti-drugs code, throwing doubt on Kenyan athletes' participation at Rio.
Kenya passed legislation on April 22 to criminalise doping, but WADA said on Thursday there needed to be changes to ensure compliance with the code, which sets a world framework for consistent rules and policies.
Kenya, for decades a leading power in middle and long-distance running, faces missing Rio if the IOC so decides.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Sports Minister Hassan Wario and others met "over WADA compliance issues", presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu wrote on Twitter.
WADA had given Kenya until May to enact the anti-doping law or be declared non-compliant.
