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For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s flag will be represented at a major international sporting event.
The International Paralympic Committee announced on Tuesday that Russia’s National Paralympic Committee received six registration places for the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games and that Belarus, a close ally of Russia, also received four places.
International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons passes the Paralympic flag to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, not pictured, after receiving it from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, not pictured, during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, France, on September 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
“The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six places: two in Para alpine skiing (one male and one female), two in Para cross-country skiing (one male and one female) and two in Para snowboarding (both male),” the statement reads.
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“In total, NPC Belarus received four places, all of them in cross-country skiing (one men’s and three women’s).”
If any of these athletes win gold in their respective sports, it will be the first time the Russian anthem has been played on stage at any major global sporting event in the last four years. It has not been heard at any Olympic or Paralympic Games since the 2016 Rio Games.
The announcement also marks the first time that Russian athletes will compete in the Paralympics under their own flag in more than a decade, due to both war and a ban stemming from a state-sponsored doping program.
The IPC, which operates separately from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced in September a partial lifting of the suspensions imposed on Russia and Belarus.
Anastasia Kucherova carries a sign as she guides Ukrainian athletes as they enter the arena during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, on February 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
IPC president Andrew Parson then told The Associated Press in November that no athletes from those countries would be at the Games, but Russia appealed the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, paving the way for athletes to compete under a neutral flag at the Olympics and its own flag at the Paralympics.
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The announcement sparked negative reactions, with Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi posting on social media that no Ukrainian officials would be present at the Paralympic Games.
“In response to the scandalous decision by the organizers of the Paralympic Games to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete under their national flags, Ukrainian officials will not attend the Paralympic Games,” Bidnyi said.
“We will also not be present at the opening ceremony and will not attend other official Paralympic events,” their statement continued. “We thank all the officials of the countries of the free world who will also ignore the official events of the Paralympic Games. We continue the fight!”
In one of the first statements on social media, Bidnyi said that the flags of Russia and Belarus “have no place in international sporting events that uphold justice, integrity and respect.”
He also accused the IPC of giving Russia a platform “to express war propaganda.”
Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych reaches the finish line during a men’s skeleton training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Tuesday’s announcement comes amid controversy at the Olympics after a Ukrainian athlete was disqualified from a men’s skeleton event after refusing to wear any helmet other than one that honors his country’s athletes who died in the war with Russia.
The IOC said the decision stemmed from its rules prohibiting athletes from making political statements on the field of play.
