Russian flag and anthem set to return at next month's Paralympics after a decade-long absence

MILAN — Russian athletes will compete under their own flag at the Paralympics for the first time in more than a decade, and the country's national anthem will be played for any gold medalists.

Tuesday's announcement stands as another indicator that Russia and its national identity will be fully restored in Olympic circles well ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

In a statement, the International Paralympic committee said Russia’s National Paralympic Committee had been awarded six slots for the upcoming Milan Cortina Paralympic Games.

It will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at the Paralympics since the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. The country's athletes were initially banned because of a state-sponsored doping program, and the sanctions against Russia have continued since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Should a Paralympic athlete win gold, it will be the first time the Russian anthem has been played on the stage of a major global sporting event since the invasion.

Russia’s close ally, Belarus, has also been banned since 2022 but will have four slots at Milan Cortina.

“The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para alpine skiing (one male, one female), two in Para cross-country skiing (one male, one female), and two in Para snowboard (both male),” the statement said.

“NPC Belarus has been awarded four slots in total, all in cross-country skiing (one male and three female).”

In September, the IPC voted to lift partial suspensions of Russia and Belarus.

However, IPC President Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press in November that there would be no athletes from those countries at the Milan Cortina Games because the sports’ governing bodies had maintained their bans.

The following month, an appeal from Russia saw the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturn a blanket ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation — paving the way for Russians to compete as neutral athletes at the 2026 Olympics, and with their own flag and anthem at the Paralympics.

The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended since 2023 by the International Olympic Committee for breaking the Olympic charter by using an administrative land grab to incorporate regional sports bodies in occupied eastern Ukraine.

That decision is under an IOC legal review after the Russian Olympic body amended its statutes and could be overturned within months.

Following a system used in Paris in 2024, Russian athletes are competing at the current Olympics as individual neutral athletes — using the French acronym AIN — and without their flag, anthem or team colors.

Russian media reported that Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic champion in Alpine skiing, is one of the athletes who has been given a slot along with cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian, who have both won medals at world championships.

All three returned to competition last month, and both Bugaev and Bagiian have since won World Cup titles.

The Milan Cortina Paralympics take place from March 6-15.

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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.