The IPC reinstated the Russian and Belarusian squads sparking the reaction.
If there is a constant about the International Olympic Committee or the International Paralympic Committee, it is that you can count on those Olympic agencies to do the wrong thing. The International Paralympic Committee has decided that Russian and Belarusian athletes should compete under their countries flags and anthems. That is not making other countries very happy. Ukrainian leaders are furious with the IPC and will be leading a boycott of the Opening Ceremonies of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics. Other countries that won’t be sending delegations to the Opening Ceremonies may include Canada, Czechia, Finland, Poland, Estonia, and Latvia. This is the first time Russian athletes will carry their country’s flag at a Paralympic Games since 2014, following bans in 2016 for state-sponsored doping and in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The International Paralympic Committee is allowing six Russian and four Belarusian athletes to participate in the Games and to compete under their national flags. The Italian government was livid with the IPC but in typical IOC or IPC fashion, the message to the Italian government which put up billions of euros to host the Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics and others. Get over it.
Russia and Belarus were banned from Paralympic competitions but regained full membership rights in the IPC after member organizations voted in September 2025 to lift their partial suspensions. Russia invaded Ukraine during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics which violated some sort of Olympics Truce. About a week before the start of the Milan-Cortina Games the Olympic Truce went into effect. The IOC wanted to see all hostilities take a break for about a month while the Games took place. The problem for the IOC or IPC? No one is listening. The Russia-Ukraine War continues, there is another war in the Middle East.
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The IPC is allowing Russia and Belarus to compete in the Milan Cortina Paralympics