Bipartite commission invites are granted to individual athletes, rather than their international federation, and allow the participation of top athletes “who may not have had the opportunity to qualify through other methods due to extraordinary circumstances”, among other factors.
The IPC, with the support of international federations – in this case FIS – decides who receives the bipartite slots after receiving recommendations from the federation.
Ukraine has also been awarded bipartite slots in three sports.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi said the decision to award slots to Russia and Belarus was “both disappointing and outrageous”.
In a statement on X, Bidnyi said: “The flags of Russia and Belarus have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity and respect.
“These are the flags of regimes that have turned sport into a tool of war, lies and contempt.”
Eliasch added: “It is difficult, and in our case in the end, the courts decided the outcome.
“Everything has been done by the book. We’ve had strict vetting schemes of the people who do participate to make sure they don’t have any affiliation with the military, and it’s important that we keep that up.”
UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy said the awarding of bipartite places to Russian and Belarusian athletes was “completely the wrong decision”, while in a statement on Wednesday, the British Paralympic Association said it was the “wrong approach”.
“ParalympicsGB has consistently supported the decision to suspend NPC Russia and NPC Belarus, however the IPC membership recently made the decision to reinstate them and we have to recognise that decision,” it said.
“We have been clear throughout that we believe this is the wrong approach and the ban should have remained in place given the ongoing war in Ukraine. We continue to express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine and our friends at NPC Ukraine.”
Responding to Nandy, the IPC said: “The International Paralympic Committee is a democratic organisation and the decision to lift the partial suspension of NPCs Belarus and Russia was taken by IPC member organisations at the 2025 General Assembly.
“At this meeting nearly 180 of the IPC’s 211 members were in attendance and voted on this matter. We have to respect the decision of our members who come from all over the world.”
Russian news agency TASS reports that among the athletes set to compete are Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic champion in alpine skiing, and cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian – both are World Championship medallists.
All three returned to competition in January, and both Bugaev and Bagiian have since won World Cup titles.
