Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticized the decision of the International Paralympic Committee, which allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Paralympic Games under their national flags.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Reaction of the Ukrainian authorities to the committee’s decision
“This is a dirty decision that cannot be respected; it is terrible and unjust. It is similar to how Russian aggression has developed: creeping occupation – Crimea, no one responded, then Donbas, no one responded, and later – a full-scale invasion. Step by step, the Russian way of life. The same goes for the Olympic Games,” said the head of the Ukrainian state in a major interview with British journalist Piers Morgan on February 18.
On the same day, Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Matviy Bidny, announced a boycott of the Paralympic Games in Italy by representatives of the Ukrainian government. He emphasized that this decision was a response to the “outrageous decision” of the International Paralympic Committee regarding the admission of athletes from Russia and Belarus under their national flags.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha also expressed his position, calling the permission to use Russian and Belarusian flags at the Paralympic Games during the war “wrong from both a moral and political standpoint.”
Decision of the International Olympic Committee
Earlier, the International Olympic Committee announced that it would allow a limited number of athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their national flags, emphasizing that these athletes would receive “the same treatment as representatives of any other country.”
The Winter Paralympic Games in Milan will take place from March 6 to 15. The Ukrainian delegation remains firmly committed to supporting international sports sanctions against the aggressor countries.
Meanwhile, the XXV Winter Olympic Games are ongoing in Milan, where thousands of athletes from dozens of countries are competing, including 46 Ukrainian athletes in 11 sports. However, Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladislav Geraskevich was disqualified just hours before the start of the competition for refusing to remove a “memory helmet” featuring images of fallen Ukrainian athletes in the war with the Russian Federation.