Ukrainian officials will boycott the Paralympic Winter Games, Kyiv said on Wednesday, 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 March 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.
The IPC’s decision came amid already heightened tensions between Ukraine and the International Olympic Committee, which is overseeing the Winter Olympics currently underway.
The IOC banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych for refusing to ditch a helmet depicting victims of the war with Russia.
Ukraine was further angered that the woman chosen to carry the “Ukraine” name card and lead its team out during the opening ceremony of the Games was revealed to be Russian.
Media reports called the woman an anti-Kremlin Russian woman living in Milan for years.
“Picking a Russian person to carry the nameplate is despicable,” Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said at a briefing in response to a question by AFP.
He called it a “severe violation of the Olympic Charter” and demanded an apology.
And Kyiv was also riled earlier this month by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino saying he believed it was time to reinstate Russia into international football.
Valeriy Sushkevych, president of the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee, told AFP on Tuesday that Kyiv’s athletes would not boycott the Paralympics.
Ukraine traditionally performs strongly at the Winter Paralympics, coming second in the medals table four years ago in Beijing.
“If we do not go, it would mean allowing Putin to claim a victory over Ukrainian Paralympians and over Ukraine by excluding us from the Games,” said the 71-year-old in an interview.
“That will not happen!”
Russia was awarded two slots in alpine skiing, two in cross-country skiing and two in snowboarding. The four Belarusian slots are all in cross-country skiing.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said earlier that those athletes would be “treated like (those from) any other country”.
The IPC unexpectedly lifted its suspension on Russian and Belarusian athletes at the organisation’s general assembly in September.
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