Ukraine officials to boycott Winter Paralympics opening ceremony over Russian athletes

Six Russians and four Belarusians will feature next month at Milano Cortina with all athletes competing under their country’s flags

Ukraine’s sports minister has condemned the decision to allow six Russians and four Belarusians to compete under their country’s flags at next month’s Winter Paralympics as “disappointing and outrageous”. Matvii Bidnyi said Ukraine officials will not attend the opening ceremony or other ­official events as a result.

“The flags of Russia and ­Belarus have no place at international ­sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect,” Bidnyi said in response to the International Paralympic Committee’s decision on Monday. “These are the flags of regimes that have turned sport into a tool of war, lies and contempt.

“In Russia, Paralympic sport has been made a pillar for those whom Putin sent to Ukraine to kill – and who returned from Ukraine with injuries and disabilities.”

Russia’s flag and anthem have not been part of an Olympics or ­Paralympics since Sochi in 2014 because of the state-sponsored doping scandal and the invasion of Ukraine. However, in September the IPC lifted its ban. ­Bidnyi urged the IPC to reconsider its ­decision before the Games begin on 6 March.

“Athletes and para-athletes in Russia glorify the war and receive state honours,” he said. “That is why Ukraine imposed sanctions on sports propagandists, the Paralympic Committee of Russia, and its president, Pavel Rozhkov.

“Giving them a platform means giving a voice to war propaganda.

“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’. No, it is not ­normal. It is deeply outrageous that officials of the IPC refuse to ­understand this.”

Of the decision to avoid the ­opening ceremony, Bidnyi said: “We will not be present. We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events. We thank every official from the free world who will do the same. We will keep fighting.”

The Russian news agency Tass said Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time ­Paralympic champion in alpine ­skiing, along with the cross-­country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian, who are world ­championship medallists, have been given ­invitations to Milano Cortina. All three returned to competition in January and Bugaev and Bagiian have since won World Cup titles, raising the strong possibility that Russia’s anthem will be heard next month.

The UK culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, also urged the IPC to think again. “Allowing athletes from ­Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal ­invasion of Ukraine continues sends a ­terrible message,” she wrote on X. “The IPC should reconsider this decision urgently.”