Italy against Russian and Belarusian athletes carrying flags at Paralympics

The Italian government has opposed the International Paralympic Committee's decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milano Cortina under their national flags.

According to Ukrinform, this was claimed in a joint statement by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, ANSA reports.

"The Italian Government expresses its absolute opposition to the International Paralympic Committee's decision to allow six Russian and four Belarusian athletes to participate in the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics under their national emblems, including their anthem," the ministers said in a statement.

Tajani and Abodi stressed that “Russia's ongoing violation of the truce and of Olympic and Paralympic ideals, supported by Belarus,” is incompatible with the participation of athletes from these countries in the Games, except when they compete as neutral individual athletes.

As reported by Ukrinform, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete at the 2026 Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina under their national flags.

Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sports Matvii Bidnyi said on Thursday that the Ukrainian delegation will not attend the Paralympic Games in Milano due to the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the competition.

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