They just wanted to perform

The restored status of the Russian Paralympic Committee will allow Russians to participate in competitions with the flag and anthem. However, not everyone

The sensational decision made at the General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in Seoul caused extraordinary enthusiasm among the Russian sports generals. Of course, the return of the flag and anthem in recent years has become the main mantra of official propaganda, and when there was almost no hope left for a positive decision at the level of major competitions in the near future, the IPC returned the full status of the RCC, lost back in 2022, with all the attributes for athletes that depend on the occasion: flag, anthem, uniform. Not right now, but definitely from the 2026 Winter Paralympics, which is just over four months away.

Against the backdrop of the fact that Russian participants in the Milan Olympics are required to perform “as in Paris 24,” that is, as individual neutral athletes, this decision undoubtedly became a breakthrough.

But not a battering ram, as the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee Mikhail Degtyarev called it: “For world sports this is a landmark event, because it goes ahead like a battering ram and shows the absolute illegality, treachery and stupidity of all sanctions imposed on Russian athletes... I am convinced that this step will become a guideline for the IOC and for other international federations that will become more accommodating."

“Bram” is a term for a slightly different field that humanity has been engaged in throughout its history, not excluding our current time.

The comparison was not very successful, and in terms of perspective it was generally incorrect - force can break through the gates and sow fear, but not respect, and certainly not love.

The “Seoul triumph” happened not least thanks to the exceptionally favorable international situation for Russia - against the backdrop of general fatigue from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and hopeless attempts to somehow stop it, as well as the fresh Middle East flame, which is splitting Europe and the whole world before our eyes. The fact that RKR President Pavel Rozhkov skillfully included a passage about the Arab-Israeli conflict in his speech at the assembly gave the necessary advantage to supporters of Russia’s return to the Paralympic family.

In general, since the withdrawal of the entire team from the Paralympic run - 2022, the RKR played the game quite subtly: it disavowed the desire for a complete suspension of membership in 2023 (the matter was limited to only partial) and skillfully took advantage of the change in the Russian political vector. Rozhkov sincerely said that the victory was made possible thanks to the support of the countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia.

All the words about “common forces” and “the triumph of justice” would be appropriate if we were talking about some kind of humanistic insight that descended on the assembly: what is the fault of athletes with disabilities, already offended by fate, but daily despising suffering and pain, why do they need to answer for the actions of their state, which not everyone likes? But we are most likely talking about a diplomatic, political and legal game, which, under certain circumstances, could have turned out differently: if during the first vote on the total suspension of Russia’s membership, the “against” margin was quite impressive, then at the second stage, opponents of a partial suspension, with 89 votes required for victory, received 91.

That is, many still want the Russian Paralympians to remain in the same position in which they have been for more than two years: neutral status, individual and limited participation.

Here it should be recalled that the international Paralympic authorities turned out to be much more radical than the purely Olympic ones: in all the Olympics of the troubled decade, the Russians took part in one way or another, and the Paralympians were completely suspended from Rio 2016 for doping cases, and in 2022 from Beijing - it’s clear why. By the way, RKR’s membership in the International Paralympic Committee was restored in 2019, and in Beijing 2022, if February had not happened, the team should have started in full force, with the flag and anthem.

And now about the main thing. The Russian Paralympians, whom Novaya supported while we had such an opportunity like no other media (especially with regard to the total suspension in 2016 - we fought for our guys to the last), turned out to be victims of a grandiose political confrontation and are far from emerging from it as winners. Because the breakthrough concerns the Russian Paralympic Committee as a whole and the five sports that the IPC directly controls: athletics, swimming, powerlifting, shooting and sledge hockey.

For example, since 2023, winter sports have been handed over to international sports federations, which themselves decide who is allowed and who is not allowed. That is, today only sledge hockey players can compete under the Russian flag and anthem in Milan 2026, while the rest must go through the crucible of qualifying tournaments with certain admission criteria and with little opportunity to obtain a quota.

With little representation from Latin America, Africa or Asia in international winter species management, the chances of facing a wide open door are slim. Of course, the decision of the IPC cannot be completely ignored, but there are many ways to say “we did everything we could.”

Rules are rules, and the representation of Russians in Milan may be minimal. But with a flag and an anthem, which makes Russian sports officials, who are satisfied with this exhibition breakthrough story, euphoric.

Even funnier are the hopes that now the International Olympic Committee will come to its senses and, in turn, give the green light to the Russian Olympic Committee for a full return straight to Milan.

It won’t give the go-ahead, because Kirsty Coventry’s office did not announce the verdict “everything is on the same terms” in order to sharply backtrack and catch the impulse of its brothers. It won’t pick it up because the IOC stated that it “took note,” nothing more, of the IPC initiative. The host, represented by the President of the Italian Paralympic Committee, Marco Giunio De Sanctis, said: “I hope that the IOC will also make a similar decision. It would be wrong for two international sports organizations to take different positions. The decision must be unanimous. I believe that athletes should compete, while flags and anthems belong to a more political sphere.”

Yes, everything is politics. Absolutely everything, including the thesis “sport is outside politics”, which refers exclusively to peacetime times. Ukraine reacted predictably and accordingly to the decision of the IPC General Assembly, calling the incident a disgrace. She most likely will not agree to a boycott. As for the general position of the “loser” of the Euro-West, its mood was most clearly expressed by the head of the Latvian Paralympic team, Daiga Dadzite: “Sport is an expression of Russia’s soft power policy, which it then uses in its propaganda.”

In Paralympic sports, due to its specificity, this has always manifested itself to a lesser extent than in ordinary sports: here you can’t really run away with bogeymen, here it’s a delicate matter, I would even say, humanistic. But now it falls to the lot of Russian athletes to find themselves on the propaganda front line.

God knows, this is not what they wanted. They just wanted to perform.