Italy has called on the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to reverse its decision to allow 10 Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete with national flags and anthems at next month's Winter Paralympics. Foreign minister Antonio Tajani and sports minister Andrea Abodi urged the IPC to reconsider its stance, saying it contradicted the Olympic spirit.
The Italian government expressed its “absolute opposition” to the IPC's ruling, echoing the position of 33 other countries and the European Commission. A statement said: “Russia's continued violation of the truce and Olympic and Paralympic ideals, supported by Belarus, is incompatible with the participation of their athletes in the Games, except as neutral individual athletes.”
Russia's embassy in Italy condemned the move, calling it “harsh and undiplomatic” and “offensive”, adding that targeting athletes with disabilities was unacceptable. The embassy said on Telegram that the stance deserved widespread condemnation.
A planned press conference by IPC president Andrew Parsons for Friday was cancelled, according to the Olympics media site, with no explanation given.
Russia and Belarus were banned from Paralympic competitions after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine but regained full rights in the IPC last year. Although international sport federations had maintained bans on athletes from those countries, Russia and Belarus successfully appealed against the International Ski and Snowboard Federation at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in December. Ukraine has said it will not send any officials to the Paralympics, which begin on 6 March.
