Recall that in the opening months of the Russia-Ukraine war, authorities in Europe and the US began canceling all things Russian. Everything from famous Russian musical compositions, to Russian athletes' appearances in world competitions, to even great authors like Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy were basically banned from Western institutions and public mention.

Xenophobia was all the rage among Western liberals, and even Russian tea rooms in American cities were vandalized. Innocent individuals faced discrimination for mere Russian ethnicity or Russian-sounding names. Absurdly, alongside banning Russian teams under the Russian flag at the Olympics - something which never happened to team USA even as Bush invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, killing some one million people according to some estimates - even Russia's Paralympic teams were barred.

That's right, not even Russia's disabled athletes could participate in world sports under their flag. Finally, this harsh and unnecessary measure has been reversed, as the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has voted to lift Russia's partial suspension, along with Belarus, finally allowing disabled athletes from the countries to participate under their national flags.

As Russian media describes Saturday, the Paralympic ban is no more:

The IPC said in a statement on Saturday that its members at the organization’s General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea have voted not to maintain the partial suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC). In the final stage of the vote, 91 delegates supported lifting all restrictions on Moscow, with 77 being against it and eight abstaining.

“This decision means NPC (national Paralympic committee) Russia now regain their full rights and privileges of IPC membership... The IPC will work with NPC Russia to put practical arrangements in place for this as soon as reasonably possible,” the statement read.

The ban on Russia and Belarus went back to 2022, though exceptions were later made which allowed some individual athletes to compete under a neutral flag.

Next, Moscow is going to lobby for a lifting of all of its athletes to compete under the national flag. Many viewers of the Summer and Winter Olympic games all over the globe have observed that the games have suffered in both quality and excitement of competition as a result of the Russian team remaining out.

Of course, Ukraine is furious, and wants the IPC to repeal its latest move. Ukraine’s Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi has called it a betrayal of "conscience and the Olympic values."

Kremlin officials celebrate the major decision in Russia's favor...

Paralympic Committee lifting Russia’s partial suspension 'LANDMARK event for world sport'

Sports Minister Degtyarev says it highlights 'illegality, perfidy and STUPIDITY' of sanctions on Russian athletes https://t.co/1vXeelpPyD pic.twitter.com/tbf5DqCvWy

— RT (@RT_com) September 27, 2025

"We call on our European partners, who will host the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games, not to allow the flag of the aggressor state to be raised over the free and democratic space while the war of aggression continues," he said. He suggested that Ukraine itself could mull dropping its participation in the games as form of protest. It would certainly be ironic if Ukrainian athletes didn't show up to compete, and the Russians did.

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