Estonia has condemned the decision to permit Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags at next month’s Winter Paralympics, branding the move a “disgrace.”
“Sport does not exist in a vacuum. Forcing Ukrainians to compete alongside representatives of the aggressor is morally unacceptable,” Margus Tsahkna, the Estonian foreign minister, wrote on X.
“The international sports community must stand for human life, justice and dignity, not normalize aggression,” he added.
Estonia’s public broadcaster also said that it would not screen events at the Games that included Russian and Belarusian athletes competing under their own flag.
The governing body of the Games confirmed Tuesday that six Russian and four Belarusian competitors will participate in the 2026 Paralympics in Milan-Cortina under their own national flags and will be “treated like [those from] any other country.”
Ukraine’s sports minister, Matviy Bidny, criticized the ruling as “both disappointing and outrageous,” labeling the athletes “killers and their accomplices.”
“In Russia, Paralympic sport has been made a pillar for those whom Putin sent to Ukraine to kill – and who returned from Ukraine with injuries and disabilities,” he said.
Russia’s flag and anthem have been absent from the Olympics and Paralympics since Sochi in 2014 after a state-sponsored doping scandal and the invasion of Ukraine. The IPC lifted its suspension in September.
In response, Ukrainian officials said they would boycott the opening ceremony and other official functions tied to the competition.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also voiced her disapproval, urging the IPC to “reconsider this decision urgently.”
“Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible message,” she wrote on X.
Glenn Micallef, the EU’s commissioner for sport, described allowing Russian and Belarusian flags at the Games as “unacceptable.”
“While Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, I cannot support the reinstatement of national symbols, flags, anthems and uniforms, that are inseparable from that conflict,” he said, adding that he would also refrain from attending the opening ceremony.
The Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics are scheduled to run from March 6 through March 15.