"The decision by the @Paralympics organisers to allow killers and their accomplices to compete at the Paralympic Games under national flags is both disappointing and outrageous, Ukraine's Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi wrote on social media. Russian and Belarusian flags 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, he added."
"Belarus and Russia were banned from Paralympic competitions after the invasion of Ukraine, but regained full membership rights in the IPC after member organisations voted in September 2025 to lift their partial suspensions. International federations for each sport on the Paralympic Games programme had said they would maintain bans on athletes from those countries, but Russia and Belarus won an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport back in December against the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS)."
Ukraine condemned the International Paralympic Committee decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics. The IPC said Russia and Belarus will have a combined ten para-athletes at the Games. Russia and Belarus had been banned from Paralympic competitions after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine but regained full membership rights in the IPC following a September 2025 vote to lift partial suspensions. International federations had planned to maintain bans, but Russia and Belarus won a December appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, enabling applications for bipartite slots.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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