Outrage erupts after Russian, Belarusian invited to Paralympics under their nations' flags

The Milano-Cortina Paralympics are still two weeks out, but controversy has already arisen over the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes, who’ll be permitted to compete under their respective flags and hear their anthems should they medal. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European leaders have condemned the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to allow six athletes from Russia — whose invasion Ukraine has been defending against for more than four years — and four from the aggressor’s ally, Belarus, in events starting March 6 in Italy.

The embattled president first learned of the news from Piers Morgan on his Uncensored show and called the decision “dirty … not respectful… not European from the point of values… not just” and said Ukraine “will react.”

'Dirty... awful... unjust.'Piers Morgan breaks the news to President Zelensky that athletes will be allowed to compete under the Russian flag at the Winter Paralympics.Full interview coming very soon.@piersmorgan | @ZelenskyyUa pic.twitter.com/osrGBRJttJ

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) February 18, 2026

In a statement to National Post, the IPC, which operates separately from the International Olympic Committee running the current Games, announced Tuesday that Russia were awarded “bipartite” invitations for two spots in each of para alpine skiing, para cross-country skiing and para snowboard, while Belarus can send four para cross-country skiers. 

The invites, offered at the IPC’s discretion, are special entries allowing an athlete to compete even if they did not qualify through normal means due to other circumstances — in this case, international sanctions. 

Joining Zelenskyy in criticizing the move was Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi, who slammed the IPC for its “disappointing and outrageous” decision to allow “killers and their accomplices” a place at the Games under flags he said “have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect.”

“In Russia, Paralympic sport has been made a pillar for those whom (Russian President Vladimir) Putin sent to Ukraine to kill — and who returned from Ukraine with injuries and disabilities,” he wrote on X.

“When the Russian flag is raised on the international stage, it becomes part of Russia’s propaganda machine. It sends a message to the world that the war is ‘normal.’”

The decision by the @Paralympics organisers to allow killers and their accomplices to compete at the Paralympic Games under national flags is both disappointing and outrageous. It is disappointing that the leadership of international non-governmental organisations tries to ignore… pic.twitter.com/POY9fCM6AD

— MatviiBidnyi (@bidnyi_matvii) February 18, 2026

He later announced that Ukrainian “public officials” will not attend the opening ceremony nor any other Paralympic event and thanked “every official from the free world who will do the same.”

Among those to follow his lead in skipping the March 6 event at Verona Arena was Glenn Micallef, the European Union’s sports commissioner.

“I stand with the Paralympians and everything they represent. However, first allowing Russia and Belarus to return and now granting a wild card and fast-tracking participation without qualification? This is unacceptable,” he wrote on X.

“While Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, I cannot support the reinstatement of national symbols, flags, anthems and uniforms, that are inseparable from that conflict.”

Meanwhile, Valeriy Shuskevych, head of Ukraine’s Paralympic Committee, told AFP she was “outraged.”

In a statement quoted by Reuters, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Sports Minister Andrea  Abodi expressed “absolute opposition” to the idea. The IPC later told the outlet it was in talks with Italian officials on the athletes’ participation. 

I stand with the Paralympians and everything they represent.However, first allowing Russia and Belarus to return and now granting a wild card and fast-tracking participation without qualification? This is unacceptable.While Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/vJU2BZr3z1

— Glenn Micallef (@GlennMicallef) February 18, 2026

In Poland, a staunch Ukraine ally, the ministry of sport also announced that government representatives will boycott the opening of the Games, according to Anadolu Agency . 

Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna called it “a disgrace” on X and said “forcing Ukrainians to compete alongside representatives of the aggressor is morally unacceptable.”

As reported by Kyiv Post , Estonia’s public broadcaster said that it would not screen Paralympic events featuring Russian and Belarusian athletes competing under their own flag.

In the U.K., sport minister Lisa Nandry said it’s “completely the wrong decision” and urged the IPC to rethink it.

“Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible message.”

National Post has contacted the Canadian Paralympic Committee for comment.

According to The Kyiv Independent , media in Russia have reported the athletes to be cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasia Bagiyan, snowboarders Dmitry Fadeyev and Philipp Shebbo, and alpine skiers Varvara Voronchikhina and Aleksey Bugayev, a three-time Paralympic champion.

Belarus will be represented by cross-country skiers Valentina Birilo, Lidiya Loban, Darya Fedkovich, and Roman Sviridenko.

Such athletes were first banned from the Paralympics following Russia’s invasion and their Paralympians were the first to suffer under the sanction, earning an immediate ban from the 2022 Beijing Paralympics.

Last September, however, Russian and Belarusian para athletes had their “full rights and privileges” restored when the IPC’s member organizations “voted not to maintain the partial suspensions” of their respective National Paralympic Committees.

A month later, it announced that governing bodies for all six winter Paralympic sports, which are individually responsible for handling qualification, confirmed that “in practice, no athletes from the two nations are likely to qualify for March’s Games,” per The Associated Press.

Then, in December, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favour of a Russian appeal to overturn the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s (FIS) ban on its athletes and those from Belarus, hence why all their athletes are in ski and snowboard events.

FIS president Johan Eliasch told the BBC this week the decision “was not easy.”

“Athletes can’t choose where they were born. On the other hand, they can’t be used for PR purposes in their home countries to promote the war,” he said.

“It’s our duty to make sure that athletes are not weaponized for political purposes.”

A Russian flag has not flown at the Paralympics since 2014 in Sochi, Russia, and the nation’s anthem has not been heard at an Olympic or Paralympic venue since the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

There are a handful of Russian and Belarusian athletes currently in Italy for the Winter Games, but like the 2024 Paris Summer Games, they are required to compete as “individual neutral athletes” who “in no way represent their state or any other organization in their country .”

Teams are entirely prohibited and only a handful of sports dropped their own bans.

Thursday morning, Russia’s Nikita Filippov became the first of its 13 athletes to medal at the Olympics, capturing a silver in the debut of men’s ski mountaineering.

Russian figure skating medal hopefuls Petr Gumennik finished sixth and Adelia Petrosian was ranked 20th heading into Thursday’s women’s free skate. 

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