The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has reversed its decision to allow Russian and Belarusian Paralympic teams to compete under a neutral flag in the upcoming Paralympics and now says they will be banned.
The (IPC) decision means the 71 Russians and 12 Belarusians will not be allowed to participate in the Winter Paralympics, which are set to open on March 4 in Beijing.
"You are victims of your governments' actions," IPC President Andrew Parsons told the affected athletes.
Organizers had faced the possibility that other athletes might boycott the games if they had stuck to their original decision to simply remove the flag and let the teams compete after Russia last week launched its invasion of Ukraine.
"If Russian and Belarusian athletes stayed in Beijing, nations were likely to withdraw and a viable games would not have been possible,” Parsons said.
Russia called the decision a "disgrace" and said it would file a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to multiple decisions across international sport to exclude Russian athletes or cancel events scheduled to take place in Russia. The decisions have also affected athletes from Belarus, which has provided a staging area for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24.
One of the most severe punishments against Russia was the suspension of its teams from the men's 2022 World Cup, a decision announced on February 28 by FIFA, football’s world governing body, and UEFA, the governing body of the sport in Europe.
The Russian Football Union (RFU) says it also will appeal that decision to the CAS. The RFU is looking to expedite the process in hopes that the punishment is either overturned or suspended so the national team can play in qualifying playoffs this month.
Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, who are in the same qualifying path as Russia, have all ruled out playing against the team.
The Beijing Winter Paralympics will bring together about 600 athletes for events stretching over 10 days.
The movement against the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes picked up steam early this week when a group of Ukrainian athletes wrote a letter condemning Russia's invasion and asking for an immediate ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympics and Paralympics.
The list of signers of the letter grew rapidly and would have been more, but as the letter stated, it was a challenge to speak with all athletes from Ukraine “as they are seeking safety in bomb shelters.”
Rob Koehler, the head of the advocacy group Global Athlete, called the moment “a clear message to every single athlete about how valuable and important their voices are for change.”
Paralympics Committee Bans Russian, Belarusian Athletes From Games
Belarusian Paralympic athlete Liudmila Vauchok trains ahead of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.