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For the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s flag will be represented at a major international sporting event.
The International Paralympic Committee announced Tuesday that Russia’s National Paralympic Committee was awarded six entry slots for the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games and that Belarus, a close ally of Russia, was also awarded four slots.
“The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para alpine skiing (one male, one female), two in Para cross-country skiing (one male, one female), and two in Para snowboard (both male),” the statement read.
“NPC Belarus has been awarded four slots in total, all in cross-country skiing (one male and three females).”
Should any of these athletes win gold in their respective sports, it will be the first time the Russian anthem has been played on the stage of any major global sporting event in the past four years. It has not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Games in Rio.
The announcement also marks the first time Russian athletes will compete at the Paralympics under their own flag in over a decade, both due to the war and a ban stemming from a state-sponsored doping program.
The IPC, which operates separately from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced a partial lift in suspensions on Russia and Belarus in September.
IPC President Andrew Parson then told The Associated Press in November that no athletes from those countries would be at the Games, but Russia appealed the ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which paved the way for athletes to compete under a neutral flag at the Olympics and their own at the Paralympics.
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The announcement was met with backlash, and Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi posted on social media that no Ukrainian official would be present for the Paralympics.
“In response to the outrageous decision by the organizers of the Paralympic Games to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete under their national flags, Ukrainian officials will not attend the Paralympic Games,” Bidnyi said.
“We will also not be present at the opening ceremony and will not attend other official Paralympic events,” his statement continued. “We thank every official from the countries of the free world who will also ignore the official events of the Paralympics. We continue the fight!”
In an early statement on social media, Bidnyi said that the flags of Russia and Belarus “have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect.”
He also accused the IPC of giving Russia a platform “to voice war propaganda.”
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Tuesday’s announcement comes amid controversy in the Olympics after a Ukrainian athlete was disqualified from a men’s skeleton event after he refused to use any other helmet other than the one honoring his country’s athletes who were killed in the war with Russia.
The IOC said the decision stemmed from its rules prohibiting athletes from making political statements on the field of play.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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