RIGA - Latvia cannot accept the fact that athletes of aggressor countries will be allowed to compete in the Paralympic Games under the flags of Russia and Belarus, President Edgars Rinkevics told members of the press today.
He said that the decisions concerning the quota system, which forces Latvian athletes to stay out of the competitions, are also unacceptable.
At the same time, Rinkevics stressed that the decision whether or not to participate is also up to the athletes themselves. "If we see that our Ukrainian friends and allies are participating, then I think it is also an opportunity for our athletes to support our Ukrainian allies and show good results. At the end of the day, it is their own decision," Rinkevics said.
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze (New Unity) also criticized the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the Paralympic Games under their countries' flags on her social media.
She emphasized that it is completely wrong to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags while Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, continues.
Braze believes that the International Paralympic Committee should urgently review this decision.
As reported, Russia was awarded two places in alpine skiing, two in cross-country skiing and two in snowboarding. The four Belarusian places are all in cross-country skiing.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) previously said that athletes from the aggressor countries "will be treated as athletes from any other country".
The IPC unexpectedly lifted the disqualification of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the organization's General Assembly meeting in September.
The partial disqualification, imposed in 2023 to replace the total ban imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, allowed athletes to compete only as neutral participants.
On Tuesday, it was confirmed that six Russian and four Belarusian para-athletes will be allowed to compete in the Games under their own flag, rather than as neutrals.
The Paralympic Games in Milan and Cortina will take place from March 6 to 15. Latvia will be represented in wheelchair curling in the mixed pairs and team competitions.
The Latvian Paralympic Committee (LPK) announced that Latvian alpine skier Martins Olins will not compete in the Paralympic Games after quotas were allocated to para-athletes from the aggressor countries Russia and Belarus.
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