The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has confirmed that a seventh nation will boycott the Winter Paralympic Games opening ceremony in Verona, Italy, on Friday (6 March) due to the flying of Russia and Belarus’ flags.
Despite the sporting action having already got underway earlier this week, the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympic Games will be officially opened at the 2,000-year-old Arena di Verona.
Seven nations and the British government have already confirmed that they will not be attending the ceremony to protest against the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Games.
Before the 2026 Games, Russian athletes had not been able to compete under their nation’s flag since Sochi in 2014.
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First, due to state-sponsored doping before the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which led to several sporting organisations – including the IOC, UEFA and FIFA – suspending Russia’s participation in global sporting competitions.
Belarus, which borders Russia and is seen as an ally of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin’s government, has also faced similar sanctions.
However, six Russian and four Belarusian athletes are permitted to compete under their respective nations’ flags at Milan-Cortina.
The Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding, sports which are not governed by the IPC.
The individual governing bodies for the sports, including the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), have not lifted their bans.
However, Russia and Belarus are able to compete after winning an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIS’s stance.
The IPC’s president, Andrew Parsons, has already said that the body has no power over CAS’s decision while stating that the organisation “respects” boycotting nations despite encouraging them to attend the opening ceremony.
On Friday, the IPC confirmed that the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine would not be sending officials or athletes to the opening ceremony, while the UK government also issued a statement providing its stance.
On Thursday (5 March), a UK government spokesperson said: "We strongly oppose the decision of the International Paralympic Committee to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.
"We have been clear that the Russian and Belarusian states should not be represented in international sport while the barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine is ongoing.
"Therefore, no government ministers or officials will attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Paralympics."
The Games will run from 6-15 March.
Luke Davies