Paralympics-Russia, Belarus regain full IPC membership after suspension lifted

(Reuters) -Russia and Belarus have regained full membership rights in the International Paralympic Committee after member organisations voted to lift their partial suspensions at the IPC General Assembly in Seoul.

The two countries were fully banned from Paralympic competitions after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but the IPC voted the following year to allow them to compete as neutrals at the Paris Paralympic Games last year — without flags or anthems being played.

Belarus has been a staging ground for Russian troops and weapons during the war.

"IPC member organisations voted not to maintain the partial suspensions of the National Paralympic Committees of Belarus and Russia," the IPC said in a statement on Saturday. "The IPC will work with the two members involved to put practical arrangements in place for this as soon as reasonably possible."

However, the International Olympic Committee has maintained its stance on Russian and Belarusian athletes.

In September the IOC said Russians will compete as neutral independent athletes without a national flag or anthem at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, maintaining the same sanctions as the Paris Summer Games last year.

On Saturday, IPC members voted 111-55 against Russia's full suspension, with 11 abstentions, and then rejected partial suspension 91-77, with eight abstentions.

Belarus similarly retained its membership after IPC members voted 119-48 against full suspension, with nine abstentions, and against partial suspension, voting 103-63 with 10 abstentions.

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)