On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme. Russian athletes would be allowed to participate in the Paralympic under a neutral flag and with a neutral designation.
Russia later appealed against the WADA decision in the CAS. On 17 December 2020, the CAS announced its decision, reducing the suspension to two years and allowing Russian athletes to participate under the flag of the Russian Paralympic Committee, rather than under a neutral flag, and use the Russian national colours.[2] For all victory ceremonies, Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 will be used in lieu of the Russian national anthem.[3]
Impact of the Russo-Ukrainian War
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) condemned Russia's "breach of the Olympic Truce adopted by the UN General Assembly".[4] Following this, the International Paralympic Committee initially announced that the RPC team designation would be banned and that Russian athletes could only compete at the 2022 Winter Paralympics under a fully neutral designation as in 2018.[5] After boycott threats from other nations, the IPC on 3 March 2022 banned Russian athletes from competing entirely.[6][7] On 16 November 2022, the IPC again suspended the RPC at an extraordinary meeting of the IPC General Assembly.[8]
On 29 September 2023, the IPC decided to continue to partially suspend both the Russian and Belarusian NPCs for two years. Their athletes and their support personnels may participate at the Paralympic Games under individual and neutral capacities. The IPC remarked that this means no teams.[9]
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