Ukraine protests as Russian, Belarusian Paralympic athletes allowed to compete under their country’s flags

Ukraine’s national sports minister said on Wednesday that the country’s officials will not attend the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, protesting the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags.

The International Paralympic Committee has lifted a three-year ban on Russian and fellow Belarusian athletes competing under their national flags. The ban was issued because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The IPC can confirm that the NPC [National Paralympic Committee] “Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para alpine skiing (one man, one woman), two in Para cross-country skiing (one man, one woman), and two in Para snowboard (both men),” the committee said in a statement.

The 2026 Paralympics begin on March 6.

Immediately after the attack in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee effectively banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games under their national flags.

The following year’s resolution allowed athletes from those countries to participate in the Olympic Games as neutral competitors, but national symbols, including flags, national anthems and team uniforms, remained prohibited.

The Minister of Youth and Sports in Ukraine, Matvii Bidnyi, strongly criticized this decision and said that the country’s officials will not participate in any Paralympic events, although Ukrainian athletes will still compete.

“The decision of the organizers of the Paralympics to allow murderers and their accomplices to compete in the Paralympic Games under national flags is disappointing and offensive,” he wrote on social media.

He stressed that Ukrainian athletes – who often perform well in the Paralympic competition, finishing second on the medal table at the 2022 Beijing Games – will not take part in the boycott.

Some European officials have also criticized the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their flags – which would, if the country takes the gold medal, see the first performance of the Russian national anthem at an Olympic or Paralympic event in years.

European Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef said he would join Ukraine in boycotting the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, calling the decision to allow Russian athletes to compete under their national flag “unacceptable.”

“Although Russia’s war against Ukraine continues, I cannot support the return of national symbols, flags, national anthems and uniforms that cannot be separated from that conflict,” said Micallef.

Lisa Nandy, the UK’s Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, also condemned the decision.

“Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their flags while the brutal attack on Ukraine continues sends a bad message,” Nandy said, calling it a “totally wrong decision” and urging the IPC to “reconsider this decision immediately.”

The debate highlights the challenge for Games organizers to keep the Olympics free from politics. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian skeleton race Vladyslav Heraskevych was denied from the Winter Olympics by wearing a “helmet” depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia.

CBS News asked the International Paralympic Committee to comment on the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their flags.