The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has granted Russian and Belarusian athletes the right to participate in the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo without undergoing qualification. This was announced by the president of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, Valeriy Sushkevych, who noted that the IPC allocated the maximum number of invitations for these countries.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Violation of Rules and Ukraine’s Protest
Sushkevych emphasized that the IPC’s decision contradicts its own principles, as representatives from 36 countries were vying for special invitations. According to him, such slots are usually given to debutants or countries with underdeveloped winter Paralympic sports, as well as to those with young athletes just starting their journey. In contrast, Russia and Belarus have long participated in winter Paralympic competitions.
“They were without the right for specific athletes to participate before the Paralympics. When this Monday (February 16), the International Paralympic Committee provided six slots, effectively licenses for Russia and four for Belarus, it saved the entities of the Russian Paralympic movement and Belarusian,” said Sushkevych.
The National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine announced a boycott of the opening ceremony of the XIV Winter Paralympic Games and demanded that the Ukrainian flag not be used during this ceremony. Ukrainian Paralympians are outraged by the IPC’s decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their national flags at the 2026 Paralympics.
Reaction from the International Community
Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Matviy Bidny, stated that representatives of the Ukrainian government would boycott the Paralympic Games in Italy in response to this decision. At the same time, the Italian government also expressed strong disagreement with the admission of athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate under their national flags. In a joint statement, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani and Minister of Sports Andrea Abodi called on the IPC to reconsider its decision.
The International Paralympic Committee confirmed that six Russians and four Belarusians would participate in the Paralympics on equal terms with athletes from other countries.
The 2026 Winter Paralympic Games will take place from March 6 to 15 in Italy. It is worth noting that after the onset of the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine in 2022, Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to participate in international competitions only under a neutral status, without national flags.