Ukrainian officials will boycott the Winter Paralympics in Milan Cortina next month following the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their national flags, Ukraine’s Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi announced Wednesday.
While Ukrainian athletes will still participate in the Games, scheduled for March 6-15, no Ukrainian officials will attend the opening ceremony or any other official events, Bidnyi stated. He characterized the IPC’s decision as “outrageous” and accused the organization of providing a platform for Russian war propaganda.
“The decision by the @Paralympics organizers to allow killers and their accomplices to compete at the Paralympic Games under national flags is both disappointing and outrageous,” Bidnyi said in a statement. “The flags of Russia and Belarus have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect. These are the flags of regimes that have turned sport into a tool of war, lies, and contempt.”
The IPC confirmed that a total of 10 Para athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete at the Paralympics. Russia will field two athletes each in Para alpine skiing, Para cross-country skiing, and Para snowboard, while Belarus will have four athletes in Para cross-country skiing.
This decision marks a divergence from the approach taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the ongoing Winter Olympics, where athletes from Russia and Belarus are competing as independent neutral athletes, without national flags, colors, or anthems. Belarus served as a key staging ground for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has faced similar international sporting bans.
Both Russia and Belarus were initially banned from Paralympic competitions following the invasion of Ukraine. However, they regained full membership rights and privileges within the IPC in September after member organizations voted against maintaining their partial suspensions, according to the IPC.
The UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, similarly criticized the IPC’s decision on Wednesday, calling it the “completely wrong decision” and urging the committee to reconsider. She stated that allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the invasion of Ukraine continues sends a “terrible message.”
It will be the first time a Russian flag has been flown at a Paralympic Games since the 2014 Games in Sochi, where Russia hosted the event. The country’s athletes were initially banned due to a state-sponsored doping program, with those sanctions continuing after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
