The International Paralympic Committee says the state-sponsored doping and cover-up by Russia alleged in a World Anti-Doping Agency report also affected the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games.
Only days into the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, committee president Philip Craven has announced Russia is not allowed to compete in the Paralympic Games, starting on September 7.
"The facts really do hurt. They are an unprecedented attack on every clean athlete who competes in sport. The anti-doping system in Russia is broken, corrupted and entirely compromised. The Paralympic movement is one giant family, and I had hoped that something like this would never rear its ugly head in our movement. Everything we have observed goes against the very spirit of sport and everything the Paralympic movement stands for. This is why we feel that we had no option but to take this action."
Sir Philip says the Russian Paralympic Committee cannot fulfil its obligations as a member of the International Paralympic Committee.
And he is scathing of the Russian government.
"I believe the Russian government has catastrophically failed its para-athletes. Their medals over morals mentality disgusts me. The complete corruption of the anti-doping system is contrary to the rules and strikes at the very heart of the spirit of Paralympic sport. It shows a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of athletes and, quite simply, has no place in Paralympic sport."
Russia says it will challenge the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, the world's top sports court.
Russia has 21 days to appeal.
Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says in a statement the ban is beyond belief, characterising it as prejudice and politicisation.
Russian Paralympic Committee general-secretary Mikhail Terentiev has told the news service Russia Today innocent athletes are being punished.
"I think the IPC's decision is inadequate, and we'll be doing everything possible to engage all relevant international judicial bodies so that a fair decision can be achieved. This collective responsibility takes us back to the medieval era, or the Nazi years, when people were punished collectively. I have no idea why this notion is making its way back into the legal system. Even if a government makes some mistakes, ordinary people, clean athletes who've been competing fairly, need to be able to take part in the Games. When such athletes are being banned, it means the IPC is not playing fairly."
Russian Paralympic Committee president Vladimir Lukin is no less critical.
"Not a single name has been mentioned in this report. There is no concrete information. Instead, we're asked to tell what we know and what we don't. The Russian Paralympic Committee is not a police agency. If this report is true, we are victims."
Ed Hula is editor of Around the Rings, an Olympic-themed newsletter based in the United States.
He has told the BBC the verdict leaves the Paralympic Committee at odds with the International Olympic Committee, or IOC.
"The IOC has to confront the idea that another respected international sporting organisation that includes Russia has decided to ban them. If the IOC can't do it, but the IPC can, how does that happen? How do you resolve that conflict between the ethics of the IPC and the ethics of the IOC? I think it's going to be an interesting debate that continues throughout the Games here, but I don't think it will necessarily affect the performance of the Russian athletes here."
In the wake of the WADA findings, the IOC has decided not to impose a full ban on Russia, opting instead for a partial suspension of some athletes and officials.
A number of the banned Russian competitors have since been able to appeal their suspension and are competing in Rio.
Meanwhile, The Australian reports an unnamed participant in the WADA investigation saying the agency provided inadequate information to him and other assessors about alleged transgressions before they ruled on the Russian athletes.
It says some of the athletes apparently implicated may not have had evidence of doping against them.
