At the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy, athletes from Russia and Belarus are competing under their national flags, and their anthems will be played if they win. At the opening ceremony in Verona on March 7, the two teams appeared with national symbols for the first time since 2014. Russia named skier Anastasia Bagiyan and alpine skier Aleksei Bugaev as flag bearers.
The decision followed votes within the International Paralympic Committee. On September 27, 2025, the IPC restored the full membership of the Russian and Belarusian Paralympic committees. The IPC said it understood that some countries were unhappy, but stressed that the decision had been made through a “very democratic process.”
In the autumn, the IPC had said that because of the position of international federations, Russia and Belarus would not be able to qualify for Milan-Cortina. But after Russia filed a case, CAS in early December found the FIS restrictions unlawful and ordered them lifted. Russian and Belarusian athletes then competed under their flags at a World Cup stage in Germany in January. The Russians won 8 medals and later received places through bipartite invitations: 6 athletes from Russia and 4 from Belarus.
Ukraine reacted sharply. On February 18, Volodymyr Zelensky called the IPC decision “dirty, absolutely disrespectful and non-European.” Ukrainian officials said they would ignore the Games’ official events, including the opening and closing ceremonies. The team later joined the boycott, although Ukrainian athletes did not withdraw from competition.
By the eve of the opening ceremony, 14 countries had publicly backed Ukraine: in addition to Ukraine itself, they were the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria, Canada, Germany, Croatia, Romania and Lithuania. Italy also protested the return of Russian and Belarusian symbols. At the same time, IPC president Andrew Parsons said the committee would not reverse its decision and would not impose sanctions for missing the ceremony.
Russia is represented in cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and snowboard. The team includes Aleksei Bugaev, Varvara Voronchikhina, Ivan Golubkov, Anastasia Bagiyan, Dmitry Fadeev and Filipp Shebbo. According to Russian Paralympic Committee head Pavel Rozhkov, the team could contend for 18 medals. The last time Russia competed at the Paralympics with its flag and anthem was at Sochi 2014. At the same time, the Russian Olympic Committee remains under sanctions, and the IOC executive board is expected to consider its status in April-May 2026.