KYIV: Ukrainian officials will boycott the Paralympic Winter Games, Kyiv said on Wednesday (Feb 18), after the International Paralympic Committee allowed Russian athletes to compete under their national flag.
Ukraine also urged other countries to shun the opening ceremony in Verona on Mar 6, in part of a growing standoff between Kyiv and international sporting federations four years since Russia’s invasion.
Six Russians and four Belarusians will be allowed to take part under their own flags at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics rather than as neutral athletes, the Games’ governing body confirmed to AFP on Tuesday.
Russia has been mostly banned from international sport since Moscow invaded Ukraine. The IPC’s decision triggered fury in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s sports minister Matviy Bidny called the decision “outrageous”, and accused Russia and Belarus of turning “sport into a tool of war, lies, and contempt”.
“Ukrainian public officials will not attend the Paralympic Games. We will not be present at the opening ceremony,” he said on social media.
“We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events,” he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said he had instructed Kyiv’s ambassadors to urge other countries to also shun the opening ceremony.
“Allowing the flags of aggressor states to be raised at the Paralympic Games while Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on is wrong – morally and politically,” Sybiga said on social media.
The EU’s sports commissioner Glenn Micallef said he would also skip the opening ceremony.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of Italy, which is hosting the Games, joined the criticism and called on the IPC to reconsider its decision.