Russian and Belarusian athletes have been granted the right to compete at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics, but only as neutrals and any medals they win will not be recorded in the official table, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced.
The decision comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that governing bodies across all sports refuse to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at international events wherever possible.
The IPC has stopped short of a full ban on athletes from the two countries at the Beijing Paralympic Games, which get underway on Friday and run until March 13.
“The RPC [Russian Paralympic Committee] and NPC [National Paralympic Committee] Belarus will participate as neutrals at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games,” read an IPC statement.
“They will compete under the Paralympic flag and not be included in the medal table.
“The IPC [will] host extraordinary General Assembly in 2022 to vote on whether to make compliance with the Olympic Truce a membership requirement and whether to suspend or terminate the membership of the Russian Paralympic Committee and Belarus Paralympic Committee,” it added.
“The IPC will not hold any events in Russia or Belarus until further notice.”
In launching its military offensive against Ukraine, Russia has been accused of breaching an ‘Olympic Truce’, adopted by the UN and which begins seven days before the start of the Olympic Games, on 4 February 2022, and ends seven days after the closing of the Paralympic Games.
Russia began its military operation after recognizing the Donbass republics. Russian President Vladimir Putin then said actions were being taken to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine itself. Some Russian troops have arrived in Ukraine via bases in Belarus.
Since the military action was launched, Russia has been hit with a wave of sporting sanctions which have been decried by Russian officials as discriminatory and going against the principle of keeping politics out of sport.
In issuing its decision, the IPC said its Governing Board was “guided by the IPC’s core principles, which include a commitment to political neutrality and impartiality, and an unwavering belief in the transformative power of sport.”
It also announced it was stripping President Putin and other Russian officials of honorary Paralympic awards previously bestowed upon them.
All Russian and Belarusian athletes and support staff at the Beijing Games must cover the logos on their uniforms, the IPC said.
The Russian delegation was due to compete in Beijing under the banner of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) rather than the Russian flag due to ongoing WADA sanctions.