The Milan Cortina Winter Paralympics will officially open later Friday amid the tensions of war in the Middle East and with some countries intending to boycott the opening ceremony because of the return of the Russian flag to the global sports stage.
Ukraine is leading the list of countries not attending the opening ceremony in Verona to protest the decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to allow Russian athletes to compete under their own flag and with their national anthem. The Russian flag hasn’t been flown at the Paralympics since the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, while the national anthem has not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.
