Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published Tuesday, February 17, 2026 10:21 p.m. / Updated Tuesday, February 17, 2026 10:38 p.m.
Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete under the national flags at the upcoming edition of the Paralympic Winter Games, scheduled from March 6 to 15, in Milan-Cortina.
The decision comes after, in September, the International Paralympic Committee (ICP) lifted the suspension imposed on the two countries. Russia and Belarus were excluded from the Paralympic competitions in 2022, in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, and from 2023 they were allowed to participate only under neutral status.
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The Paralympic Games are international sports competitions dedicated to athletes with disabilities, similar to the Olympic Games. They include athletes with different types of disabilities: physical, visual or intellectual.
Decision confirmed after appeal to TAS
The situation was complicated when the international federations responsible for the sports on the Winter Paralympic program chose to maintain the bans.
In December, however, Russia and Belarus won their appeal against the International Ski Federation (FIS) at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), allowing the athletes to compete and accumulate points in the international rankings.
The CIP confirmed that the 10 places were awarded through special bipartite invitations, a mechanism intended for top athletes who could not qualify through the usual methods, due to “extraordinary circumstances”, notes the BBC.
Distribution of seats
According to the press release provided by the International Paralympic Committee, Russia received 6 seats:
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2 in alpine skiing (1 male, 1 female)
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2 in cross-country skiing (1 male, 1 female)
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2 in snowboarding (both male)
Belarus received 4 placesall in cross-country skiing (1 male, 3 female)
Among the Russian athletes announced by the TASS agency is Aleksey Bugaev, triple Paralympic champion in alpine skiing, as well as cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian, both medalists at the World Championships.
It will be Russia's first participation in the Paralympics under its own flag since Sochi in 2014, a period later marred by sanctions over its state-sponsored doping program and, more recently, the geopolitical fallout from the war in Ukraine.
