The Italian government has spoken out against allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the 2026 Paralympic Games under their national flags. Ukraine thanked Rome for the statement.
Key statement
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the 2026 Paralympic Games in Milan. The Committee does not object to them competing under Russian and Belarusian flags. This will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at a Paralympic Games since the Sochi 2014 Games.
Italy disagreed with this decision. The position was expressed in a statement by Antonio Tajani, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Andrea Abodi, Italy’s Sports Minister.
“The Italian government, together with 33 other countries and the European Commission, reiterates its disagreement with the decision to fully reinstate the Paralympic Committees of Russia and Belarus, adopted by the IPC General Assembly on September 27, and confirms its full solidarity and unconditional support for Ukraine,” the statement reads.
Rome urged the IPC to reconsider its decision. Italy also stressed that it opposes the use of Russian and Belarusian national emblems during the Games. The statement notes that Russian athletes should not compete in the Paralympics because Russia violates Olympic and Paralympic ideals. The same applies to Belarus, as it supports Russia’s aggression. According to Italian officials, they may only compete as neutral individual athletes.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha thanked Italy for its reaction.
“Grateful to my Italian colleague and friend Antonio Tajani and Sports Minister Andrea Abodi for their clear stance on the shameful IPC decision to allow Russian and Belarusian national emblems,” Sybiha wrote on X.
Background
The 2026 Paralympic Games will take place in Milan from March 6 to March 15.
Earlier, the IPC announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete under their national flags. They will get the same treatment a representatives of any other country do.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the IPC decision.
“It’s a dirty decision, absolutely, not respectable, and not European – from the point of values. (…) It’s like the Russian way of life, how they began this aggression. It is a creeping occupation. Crimea – nobody answered, nobody gave a kick? Okay. Donbas – nobody’s answering, nobody’s putting sanctions? Okay. Full-scale invasion. Step by step, the Russian way of life. The same with Olympic Games,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.
Sybiha also urged partner countries to boycott the Paralympic opening ceremony. He called the IPC decision morally and politically wrong.
“These flags and anthems represent regimes that wage aggression, destroy cities, and weaponize sport for propaganda. They cannot be separated from the crimes committed under them,” Sybiha wrote.
Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports Matvii Bidnyi said Ukrainian government representatives would boycott the Paralympics.
Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that the Ukrainian skeleton athlete, who had been disqualified over a “helmet of remembrance,” was allowed to remain at the Olympic Games. However, he will not be able to compete.
