Seven countries are boycotting the Paralympics opening ceremony
The 2026 Winter Paralympics kicks off today (6 March) and will run until later this month (15 March)
Seven countries are boycotting the 2026 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony in protest at Russian and Belarusian athletes being permitted to compete under their own flags.
Six athletes from Russia and four from Belarus will be directly representing their countries rather than competing as neutrals at the Games in Milano-Cortina, which start today (6 March).
That followed the lifting of a partial ban by the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) and a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by Russia and Belarus against a ban imposed by FIS, the global governing body for skiing and snowboarding.
Russia has been in the international sporting wilderness since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with this inclusion at the Paralympics the most significant step back since then.
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The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has confirmed that the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine would not be sending officials or athletes to the opening ceremony on Friday night, and now the UK has issued a statement on the matter.
A British Government spokesperson said: "We strongly oppose the decision of the International Paralympic Committee to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.
"We have been clear that the Russian and Belarusian states should not be represented in international sport while the barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine is ongoing.
"Therefore, no Government ministers or officials will attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Paralympics."
The UK Government statement added that Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock would be in Cortina purely to support British athletes.
"They have worked tirelessly over the last four years to be ready for the biggest moment of their sporting lives and deserve to have the nation behind them," the statement concluded.
In addition to the UK, the Mirror reports that a further four countries will not be sending government ministers or official state representatives as a form of protest.
The other countries include France, Germany, the Netherlands and Croatia, with the decision reportedly applying to the closing ceremony later this month (15 March).
Andrew Parsons, the president of the IPC, has since defended the decision to allow Russian athletes to compete under their own flag for the first time since 2014.
"Our clear focus remains on supporting all stakeholders arriving and preparing to deliver the best Paralympic Winter Games," he said via the Guardian. "We are collaborating with Milano Cortina and ensuring this event continues to serve as a platform to drive social change for the world’s 1.3 billion persons with disability."
He added that the decision taken by the IPC general assembly last September was consistent with democratic principles.
"I acknowledge this decision has not been well received in some parts of the world," Parsons said. "But I want to stress that the IPC is a democratic global organisation whose decisions on member suspension are determined by its members.
"Last September was the third time the general assembly voted on this topic. In 2022, [the result was] full suspension. In 2023, partial suspension, 2025, no suspension. Each time the IPC respected and implemented the decision of our member organisations, as we are bound by our constitution to do so. We cannot pick and choose when to be democratic."
Rhiannon Ingle