Injured Russian soldiers can compete at future Paralympics, says IPC boss

Russian soldiers injured in the war with Ukraine will be allowed to compete at future Paralympic Games, says International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons.

An investigation by Poland-based news outlet Vot Tak, as reported by the Moscow Times, found Russia is fast-tracking injured soldiers into Para-sport.

The Russian Paralympic Committee has reportedly said that “at least 70” veterans are now competing in national teams.

Parsons was speaking to BBC Sport on the day of the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony in Italy, which is set to be boycotted by seven teams – including Ukraine – over the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Games.

It was announced in February that six Russians and four Belarusians will compete at the Paralympics after the IPC lifted the nations’ suspensions last year.

It will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at a Paralympics since Sochi 2014.

Asked if the IPC would allow Russians injured in the war to compete at future Games, Parsons said: “When the general assembly took the decision to lift the suspensions of Russia and Belarus, the decision was to treat them like any other National Paralympic Committee.

“There are many countries that recruit athletes from the armed forces, so if Russia does that, they won’t be the only one.

“We have to remember where we come from. Our movement started after World War Two, specifically with injured military personnel.

“So what the Paralympic movement offers is possibility after war. We are against any war, any conflict, but what we offer is an opportunity for those who are injured in war to be reintegrated into society through sport.

Both countries were suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the eve of the Winter Paralympics in 2022, with Belarus a close ally of Russia.

The IPC claimed that decision was made not because of the invasion itself, but because Paralympic sport was being used to promote the military campaign, which was a breach of its rules. It has since said there is less evidence of such propaganda now.

The blanket ban imposed on Russian and Belarusian athletes in 2022 was reduced to a partial ban in 2023, allowing athletes from the two nations to compete as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

In September 2025, the IPC lifted that ban entirely but the four individual governing bodies in charge of the six sports contested at the Winter Paralympics decided to keep their bans in place.

In December, Russia and Belarus won an appeal against FIS – the governing body for skiing and snowboarding – at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), permitting their athletes in those sports to compete and accumulate ranking points.

As a result, 10 athletes were then awarded bipartite commission invitations to compete at the Winter Paralympics.

Bipartite commission invites are granted to individual athletes, rather than their international federation, and allow the participation of top athletes “who may not have had the opportunity to qualify through other methods due to extraordinary circumstances”, among other factors.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky called the decision “awful” while the country’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi said it was “both disappointing and outrageous”.

“The general assembly lifted the suspension in September so we need to respect the democracy of our movement. The majority voted that way, so we need to implement their decision,” said Parsons.

“But I fully understand the disappointment, I understand the different opinions, and especially [those] coming from Ukraine.”

Asked what he would say to Ukrainian athletes, he said: “My message to them is that the best way to show the strength of Ukraine is on the field of play, by winning medals and by making sure their national anthem is played as many times as possible on Italian soil.”

In addition to Ukraine, teams from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are boycotting Friday’s opening ceremony in Verona in protest against the decision.

Officials from other nations, including the British government, will not attend for the same reason.

The Great Britain team will also not go to the Verona ceremony, but for logistical reasons – a decision that was made some time ago.

Many of the 25-strong British squad – including flagbearers Menna Fitzpatrick and Scott Meenagh – are in competitive action on Saturday morning, several hours’ drive from Verona.

Russian athletes will be at the opening ceremony, while those from Belarus are expected to be in attendance.

“Different countries, National Paralympic Committees, governments, athletes, they have been able to express their views freely, and that’s what we stand for as a democratic organisation,” said Parsons.