Polish TV will not show Russian and Belarusian athletes at Winter Paralympics opening ceremony

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s public broadcaster, TVP, has announced that it will not air images of Russian and Belarusian athletes during the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics in Italy in protest against them being allowed to compete at the games under their national flags.

When they appear during the opening ceremony, which takes place this Friday, TVP will stop its own broadcast and display a message saying: “Solidarity with Ukraine. TVP Sport opposes the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in sports competitions.”

Meanwhile, in situations when, during the games, a Polish athlete wins bronze or silver while their Russian or Belarusian counterpart takes gold, TVP will “show the moment of awarding the medals, but the broadcast will end before the singing of the anthems and the raising of the flags”.

Paralympic competitions are important, but “sport cannot justify violence, killing and violations of human rights”, wrote the broadcaster.

TVP’s decision follows similar moves, ranging from coverage restrictions to entirely boycotting the ceremony, announced by public broadcasters in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

Last month, Poland’s sports ministry also announced that its officials would boycott the ceremony. Subsequently, the Polish Paralympic Committee confirmed that all of its members and athletes would also skip the event.

A number of other national delegations – including Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, ​Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania – have likewise announced that they will not attend the ceremony.

In 2022, Russia and Belarus were banned from the Beijing Paralympics, which began shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The following year, their para-athletes were, however, allowed to compete as “neutrals”, meaning without national symbols such as flags and anthems.

Last year, Russia and Belarus regained full membership rights in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), after a vote by the organisation’s member states lifted their partial suspensions.

That opened the way for the IPC’s February announcement that it had granted permission for six Russian and four Belarusian para-athletes to take part in the upcoming games in Italy, which will take place from 6 to 15 March, under their national flags.

TVP said in its statement that it was “astonished” to learn of that decision, which it regards as “a disturbing manifestation of the blurring of responsibility of Russia and Belarus for crimes committed in Ukraine, and we do not and never will consent to this”.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s closest allies since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and has strongly opposed allowing Russian athletes to compete in international competitions.

It was removed as the host of two European junior weightlifting championships this year due to its refusal to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part.

Poland also recently refused to allow two Russian ski jumpers to enter the country to take part in a World Cup event in Zakopane, although they had been cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Press Service of the President of Russia/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 4.0)

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.