The Russian and Belarusian national teams will not be able to participate in the 2026 Paralympic Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said in a statement.
It recalled that in September 2025, the IPC General Assembly voted not to extend the partial suspension of the National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) of Belarus and Russia.
This meant that Paralympic athletes from both countries could compete freely in the Paralympic Games, provided they qualified in accordance with the rules of the relevant international federation.
However, shortly afterwards, the IPC received confirmation from each of the four International Federations representing the sports included in the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games that, in practice, no athletes from these two countries were likely to qualify for the March Games.
The 2026 Paralympic Winter Games will take place from 6 to 15 March, with 79 medals to be contested across six sports. They will be held in two Italian cities: Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.