The international Paralympic Committee has fully restored Moscow’s membership in the organization
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has voted against prolonging Russia’s suspension, allowing disabled athletes from the country to participate under the nation’s flag.
Russia and Belarus were banned from the Olympics and Paralympics following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, which also led to their exclusion from other major sporting events. Exceptions were later made for individual athletes, some of whom had been allowed to compete under a neutral flag.
The IPC said in a statement on Saturday that its members at the organization’s General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea have voted not to maintain the partial suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC). In the final stage of the vote, 91 delegates supported lifting all restrictions on Moscow, with 77 being against it and eight abstaining.
“This decision means NPC (national Paralympic committee) Russia now regain their full rights and privileges of IPC membership… The IPC will work with NPC Russia to put practical arrangements in place for this as soon as reasonably possible,” the statement read.
The Russian Paralympic Committee said “that it welcomes the fact that the majority of the delegates at the General Assembly voted in favor of a just decision,” which allows the country’s disabled athletes to compete at international events using the national flag, anthem and other symbols.
Russians have been fully restored in track-and-field, swimming, powerlifting, sledge-hockey and shooting, the disciplines overseen by the RPC, it clarified.
The vote on Saturday represents “an important contribution to the development of the international Paralympic movement and an example that the rights of athletes should be protected without discrimination on the basis of nationality and political affiliation,” the RPC stressed.
Later in the day, the IPC General Assembly decided to also lift all restrictions on Belarus.
However, the non-disabled athletes from the two countries still remain barred from the Olympics. The IOC ruled earlier this month that the Russian and Belarusian teams will be barred from the 2026 Winter Games, hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, with only vetted participants in individual sports being allowed to compete in a neutral status.
