Four years have passed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then, sport has been another arena of struggle. Russian athletes have since been forced to compete without a flag or anthem in major events, but there are international federations or relevant events that are beginning to open their hand. The last and most relevant, the Winter Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina 2026.
The European Commission has clarified in these days that it has not called for a boycott of the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, after the European Commissioner for Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef will announce that he will not attend the Opening Ceremony for the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes and called on other members of the College of Commissioners to join their protest.
Last Wednesday, Micallef attacked the International Paralympic Committee (ICC) assuring that it was “unacceptable” to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the games under their flags while Russian aggression against Ukraine continues, and announced that he would not go to the opening ceremony, scheduled for next March.
“As long as Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, I cannot support the restitution of national symbols, flags, anthems and uniforms, which are inseparable from that conflict. For this reason, I will not attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Games,” he said in a letter, urging his counterparts not to attend either.
The spokesperson for the European Commission, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, has clarified that the commissioner’s decision not to attend the ceremony “it is a symbolic gesture” to “show their concern for the decision taken” by the CPI and that in no case are they calling for a boycott of the Paralympic Games.
“In fact, on the contrary, we hope that people see them,” he continued in his explanation, detailing that at the moment no other commissioner has announced their participation in the ceremony and that, if at any time it changed, they would make their agendas public.
The commissioner’s protest took place after the CPI decided to allow a total of 10 Russian and Belarusian athletes compete under the flags of their countries in the Paralympic Games, after the organization decided last September to lift the suspensions of athletes from those two countries.
Ukraine appreciates the support of Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland
Ukraine thanked, through its Minister of Youth and Sports, Matví Bidni, the support of countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland for its boycott of the International Paralympic Committee (ICC) for allowing 6 Russian and 4 Belarusian athletes to participate in the upcoming Milan Cortina Games with their flags.
Bidnyi thanked the European Commissioner for Intergenerational Equity, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef; to the former Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida Šimonytė; and to the Polish Ministry of Sports and Tourism, for their decision not to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
Among the international politicians who also condemned the CPI decision, cited by the statement, are the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Kęstutis Budrys; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Antonio Tajani; the Minister of Sports and Youth of Italy, Andrea Abodi; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Baiba Braže; Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna; and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom, Lisa Nandy.
Ukrainian leaders will not attend the Paralympic Games to be held from March 6 to 15 in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina, in protest against the organizers’ decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under the flag of their countries.
Last September, The General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee (ICC) voted not to maintain the partial suspension of Belarus and Russiareestablishing their full rights, a decision that gave permission to athletes from both countries to compete freely in the Paralympic Games, once qualified.
Russia defends participation of its Paralympians with flag and anthem
The Kremlin defends the participation of its Paralympic athletes with flag and anthem in the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games: “We consider that all athletes, Olympians and Paralympians, should have the right to freely participate in international competitions, even more so in the Olympiad and Paralympics with the flag of their countries,” said Dmitri Peskov, presidential spokesman, in his daily telephone press conference.
Peskov, who is married to a former Olympic figure skating champion, stressed that “This is a sporting competition, not a political one”. “Our position is known. We consider that in general sport should never be a victim of politics. Sport should be, precisely, free of politics,” he noted.
Instead, he added, the Ukrainian authorities advocate “completely the opposite.”
It will be the first time Russian Olympic or Paralympic athletes compete under flag and anthem since the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.
