Trump Envoy Supports Russia's Reinstatement of Paralympic Games
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced earlier this week that Russian and Belarusian athletes — banned from international competition following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict — will compete under their national flags at the upcoming Paralympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina in March. The IPC told reporters the ten qualifying athletes from both countries would be "treated like [those from] any other country."
When approached by the New York Times on Saturday for comment, Zampolli responded via text, stating: "I think sport is for all."
The envoy's sympathetic stance aligns with a broader pattern of US engagement with Moscow on the issue. Zampolli had previously met Russia's sports minister and head of the country's Paralympic Committee, Mikhail Degtyarev, on the sidelines of an Olympic Council of Asia event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in January. Degtyarev described the encounter as a "very good exchange" that extended beyond sports matters.
Notably, Washington was absent from a September statement signed by most EU member states, the European Commission, Japan, South Korea, and Canada, which had criticized the IPC's initial decision to lift the ban on Russia.
The controversy deepened Friday when Ukraine and the Czech Republic announced they would boycott the Paralympic opening ceremony in Milano Cortina in protest of Russian and Belarusian participation.
Russian officials responded dismissively. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova quipped: "The main thing is not to talk them out of it." State Duma MP and Olympic speed skating champion Svetlana Zhurova characterized the Ukrainian boycott as a "strange" move and suggested "nobody will notice it."
Russian representatives remain excluded from the ongoing Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, with only a handful of athletes permitted to compete as neutrals in select individual disciplines.
Degtyarev has previously denounced the blanket exclusion of Russian athletes as "political discrimination" and a breach of the Olympic Charter. Russian President Vladimir Putin echoed that sentiment last year, asserting that athletes deserve access based solely on merit and that "politics has no place in sport."
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