Paralympics officials announce decision on Russian athletes competing at Winter Games

The International Paralympic Committee holds a news conference with President Andrew Parsons after announcing Russians and Belarusians will compete as “neutral athletes” because of their countries’ roles in the war against Ukraine.

Belarus has been a key ally in the war and both countries have been ostracised from the majority of the sporting world, including the 2022 World Cup and Women’s Euro 2022 by football’s governing body Fifa.

Russian athletes had already been slated to compete as RPC as punishment for the state-sponsored doping scandal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

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