Russian and Belarusian para-athletes will be eligible to compete under their home country’s flag at the next Paralympic Games.
A partial ban was imposed in 2023 over Russia’s war in Ukraine. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has now voted to lift it.
However, individual sporting bodies’ own bans could still see athletes compete under neutral flags at the upcoming 2026 Winter Paralympics.
Initial ban
Russia and Belarus were partially suspended in 2023 for breaching the IPC’s rules by using sport to promote Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Belarus has supported.
The IPC had previously banned athletes from these countries from the 2022 Winter Paralympics, which were held soon after Russia’s invasion.
At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, athletes competed under neutral flags.
Voting
At the IPC General Assembly in Seoul, member organisations rejected a motion for a full suspension of Russia (111–55) and then voted against extending the partial suspension (91–77).
Similar votes were held for Belarus.
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The result restores both countries’ full membership rights and allows them to return as national teams.
The IOC, meanwhile, is unlikely to follow suit.
It has kept its policy that Russian and Belarusian athletes can only take part under strict eligibility rules.
Earlier this month, the IOC confirmed Russian and Belarusian athletes will only be allowed to compete at the 2026 Winter Games under the same conditions as Paris 2024: no flag, no anthem, and checks to exclude anyone linked to the war or military.
Comments
The Russian Paralympic Committee said: “This is an important contribution to the development of the international Paralympic movement and an example that the rights of athletes must be protected without discrimination on national and political grounds.”
A spokesperson for the UK government said: “Our unequivocal position remains that there should be no Russian or Belarusian state representation in international sport while the war against Ukraine continues given the breaches of the Olympic Charter.”
Implications
In theory, Russian and Belarusian athletes will be free to march under their own flags at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina and at Paris 2028.
That being said, individual international sporting federations (e.g Para Athletics) still enforce their own bans, meaning the athletes may remain barred from doing so in some sports until those bodies follow the IPC’s lead.
