Russia is returning to the Paralympics, and Ukrainian officials vow to boycott

The Winter Paralympics will begin on March 6 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, exactly one month after the Winter Olympics opened in the same Italian venues. For the first time since the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russian athletes will compete under their national flag and anthem. The International Paralympic Committee cleared six Russians and four Belarusians to compete, with both delegations marching under their respective national flags. The Russian delegation includes alpine skiers Alexey Bugayev and Varvara Voronchikhina, cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasia Bagiyan, and snowboarders Dmitry Fadeyev and Filipp Shebbo Monzer. The decision has drawn fierce condemnation from Ukraine, whose officials say they will boycott official Paralympic events.

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The long road back

The Russian flag has not appeared at the Olympics or Paralympics since Sochi, first because of a ban stemming from systematic doping in Russian sports and later because of sanctions imposed after Russia began its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022. Some Russian athletes competed in the 2026 Milan Olympics, but only as individuals under neutral status, identified by the abbreviation AIN, from the French Athlète Individuel Neutre, or Individual Neutral Athlete.

The 2022 Winter Olympics were held in Beijing from February 4 to February 20. Russian athletes competed there, but because of the doping ban, they did so under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. Four days after the closing ceremony, Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. The Paralympics, which traditionally follow the Olympics, were held while the war was already underway.

In March 2022, the IPC initially cleared Russian athletes to compete, only to annul that decision within 24 hours. The committee cited boycott threats from other national teams and security concerns in the Paralympic Village. The IPC also barred Belarusian athletes.

“To the Para athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments’ actions,” the IPC statement said.

At the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, both Russian Olympians and Paralympians competed only in individual events and under neutral status.

The situation changed in September 2025, when the IPC General Assembly reinstated the Russian Paralympic Committee’s membership and voted to lift the suspensions of Russia and Belarus. The move removed the restrictions that had prevented athletes from competing under their national flags and anthems.

But that was not enough. The Winter Paralympics feature only six sports — cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, curling, and sledge hockey — and governance over each lies not with the IPC but with the individual sports federations: the International Ski Federation (FIS), the International Biathlon Union (IBU), World Curling, and World Para Ice Hockey.

The IPC’s decision led to a paradox. Although the committee had formally lifted its restrictions, Russian and Belarusian Paralympians remained effectively barred because qualification required competing in international events, and the federations continued to exclude them from those competitions.

A court ruling opens the door

In January 2026, the Russian Paralympic Committee announced that the IPC had nonetheless found a way to allow Russian athletes to participate. RPC Chairman Pavel Rozhkov said the IPC had informed all member organizations that Russia could apply for bilateral invitations in cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, and snowboarding on standard terms. Such invitations are issued under special agreements between the IPC and national committees and differ from regular quota spots, which are allocated automatically based on qualifying results and rankings.

The IPC’s decision, the Russian Paralympic Committee said, came after Russia won a December ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordering the International Ski and Snowboard Federation to admit Russian athletes. The IPC announced on February 17 that six Russian skiers and snowboarders would be allowed to participate in the Winter Games. “As for other sports, we remain excluded from international competition and had no basis to expect bilateral invitations. In sledge hockey and wheelchair curling, there are no such invitations either, and we were not permitted to attempt qualification,” Rozhkov said.

Ukraine’s sports minister swiftly condemned the decision to readmit Russian and Belarusian athletes, calling it “simultaneously disappointing and outrageous.” Matvii Bidnyi wrote on Facebook that the flags of both countries “cannot be present at international sports competitions that uphold the principles of fairness, honesty, and respect.”

“These are the flags of regimes that have turned sports into an instrument of war, lies, and contempt. In Russia, Paralympic sports have been made a pillar of support for the men Putin sent to fight in Ukraine, who came back maimed,” he added.

On February 18, the day after Russia announced its team roster, Bidnyi said that Ukrainian officials would boycott the Paralympics. Athletes from Ukraine would still compete, he said, but no Ukrainian official would attend the opening ceremony or any other events.