Russian, Belarusian Milan Paralympics participation uncertain | OneFootball

Just over five months before the Winter Paralympic Games scheduled for March 6, 2026, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) agreed to reinstate Russia and Belarus as full members, but their presence in Milan-Cortina is still far from guaranteed.

The majority of the IPC general assembly members, gathered this Saturday in Seoul, rejected the total suspension of Russia and Belarus and maintained the partial suspension in place since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, with the help of Belarus, which began in February 2022.

In a text sent to AFP, the Ukrainian Minister of Sport, Matvii Bidnii, accused the IPC of betraying “Olympic values.”

“We appeal to our European partners, who will host the next Winter Paralympic Games, not to allow the flag of an aggressor state to be raised in a free and democratic space while the war of aggression continues,” he added.

The partial suspension of these two committees was decided in the fall of 2023, and Russian and Belarusian Paralympic athletes were authorized to participate in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games under a neutral flag and in compliance with strict conditions of neutrality.

The Russian Paralympic Committee welcomed the decision, describing it as “fair” and “an example of how athletes' rights should be protected without discrimination based on nationality or political considerations.”

No Russian flag since 2014

In theory, this decision paves the way for the presence of Russian and Belarusian Paralympic athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games (March 6 to 15), although the international federations of the sports scheduled for the Paralympic event need to give final approval. So far, the suspension has been maintained.

To be eligible for the Paralympic Games, each athlete must have an active license for the 2025-2026 season from their international federation. In this case, from the FIS (skiing), the IBU (biathlon), and the WPIH (ice hockey), which have so far excluded Russian and Belarusian athletes from the qualification process, and from World Curling, which assigns a quota per country instead of per athlete, and whose qualification process has already ended.

However, the presence of the Russian and Belarusian flags in Milan, while the war continues in Ukraine, is far from guaranteed.

The Russian flag has not been raised at an Olympic event since the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.

In Rio 2016, the IPC suspended the Russian committee after a widespread doping scandal orchestrated by the Russian state. The same reason was applied at the Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2021 Games, where Russian athletes competed under a neutral flag.

The IPC then excluded the Russian and Belarusian Paralympic committees from the Beijing 2022 Winter Games on March 3 of that year, on the eve of the opening ceremony, following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, supported by Belarus, which began a few days earlier, on February 24.

If the IPC finally authorizes the Russian and Belarusian flags, it would be the Ukrainians who would be absent from the event, as a decree from July 26, 2023, prohibits Ukrainian athletes from participating in competitions “where the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus are represented.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.