Eleven countries and the European Union have decided to boycott the opening ceremony of the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games in Italy over the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, March 3.
The ministry said Germany joined the group on Tuesday, prompting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to thank Berlin for what he described as a principled decision.
“I am grateful to the German Paralympic Committee for its clear, values-based decision not to participate in the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games,” Sybiha said in a statement posted on Telegram.
He also thanked Germany’s state minister for sport and volunteering Christiane Schenderlein for declining to attend the ceremony and for the support of the federal government.
According to Sybiha, the boycott follows a decision by the International Paralympic Committee to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under their national flags and with their national anthems.
“Dignity cannot be a matter for negotiation,” Sybiha said, calling on other countries to join the boycott.
He criticized the decision by the International Paralympic Committee, saying it risks turning what should be a celebration of peace into what he described as a platform for propaganda by Moscow and Minsk.
The 2026 Winter Paralympic Games are scheduled to take place in Italy shortly after the Winter Olympic Games, which will be hosted in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from participating in the last Winter Paralympic Games, which were held less than a month after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A de facto ban on Russian participation in high-level international sporting events has been in place ever since. However, FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s call to lift the ban at the beginning of February was recently echoed by International Ice Hockey Federation chief Luc Tardif.
The IPC have defended their decision, saying that it was decided by way of a “democratic” vote in September 2025.
“We appreciate that many countries are upset with the decision, but it was a very democratic process,” IPC communications officer Craig Spence told AFP.