Beijing (AFP) - Russian and Belarusian athletes were given the all-clear Wednesday to compete at the upcoming Winter Paralympics, which open this week under the shadow of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged sporting federations across the world to exclude athletes from Russia as well as Belarus, which hosted troops before the invasion.
But on Wednesday the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) held a meeting and posted a brief statement saying athletes from the two countries would be allowed to compete as "neutrals".
"They will compete under the Paralympic flag and not be included in the medal table," the committee said.
IPC president Andrew Parsons said it was a difficult time for the world and the Paralympic movement but he urged competitors to treat the "neutral athletes as they would any other athletes".
"Unlike their respective governments these athletes and officials are not aggressors," Parsons told reporters in Beijing.
He declined to say whether the IPC would take action against any athletes protesting, saying it would act on a case-by-case basis.
Britain's Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries took a dim view of the decision.
"I am extremely disappointed in the IPC -- this is the wrong decision and I call on them to urgently reconsider," she said on Twitter.
"They must join the rest of the world in condemning this barbaric invasion by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing."
Earlier Paralympics Australia had also thrown its support behind a ban, saying it was joining a "growing number of sporting institutions" supporting such a move.
But Parsons said the IPC's decision "is the harshest possible punishment we can do within the framework of our rules".
He added that the decision had not been unanimous within the committee but he would not disclose a breakdown of the voting.
The IPC will host an extraordinary general assembly this year to vote on whether to make compliance with the Olympic Truce a membership requirement and whether to suspend or terminate the membership of the Russian and Belarusian Paralympic committees.
It will not hold any events in Russia or Belarus until further notice, it added.
Ukraine team in Beijing
Much of the sports world has reacted in solidarity with Ukraine.
FIFA kicked Russia out of the 2022 World Cup, while rugby's world governing body has banned Russia and Belarus from all international events "until further notice".
Russian President Vladimir Putin, an accomplished judoka, was also suspended as honorary head of the International Judo Federation.
With its civilian airspace closed, half a million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries and Russian troops closing in on Kyiv, getting Ukraine's Paralympians to Beijing was expected to be a difficult task.
But Parsons confirmed the team's safe arrival on Wednesday.
"I'm delighted to say that just hours ago, the Ukrainian team, consisting of 20 athletes and nine guides, arrived safely here in Beijing," he told reporters.
The Eastern European country has punched above its weight in previous Paralympic winter events, with frequent podium finishes in the biathlon and ski events.
The delegation took home 22 medals in 2018 -- including seven golds -- gaining the sixth spot on the world tally.
For some team members, the emotional rollercoaster and disrupted focus will be a case of deja vu.
During Russia's hosting of the Winter Paralympics in 2014, Ukrainian athletes had to grapple with Moscow's takeover of the Crimea peninsula.
- 'Positive legacies' –
Sporting action begins Saturday as more than 650 athletes from 49 countries compete in 78 events across six sports –- ice hockey, snowboarding, biathlon, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and wheelchair curling.
Like the Olympics last month, events will be held in a strict coronavirus bubble.
Beijing celebrated a record haul of nine gold medals at the Winter Olympics -- narrowly beating out the United States.
China has consistently topped the medal tally at past Summer Paralympics.
But its first medal for the Winter Paralympics only came in 2018 -- a gold in wheelchair curling -- and it is hoping its largest ever team of 96 athletes will achieve more podium finishes this year.
China social welfare expert Xiaoyuan Shang said hosting the Paralympics this year will build on the "positive legacies" left from the last time the Games were held in China.
That includes "making people with disabilities more confident in themselves, reducing discrimination and stigma towards people living with disabilities in China, improved accessible facilities in cities and changed social attitudes", she told AFP.
