On December 20, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said that it was maintaining the suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee, adding that it would make its final decision on whether the Russian committee can take part in the 2018 Paralympics in late January.
“The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Wednesday (20 December) that it is maintaining the suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) and will make a final decision on whether the National Paralympic Committee can compete at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in late January,” the statement read.
In 2016, following the publication of WADA’s independent commission headed by Richard McLaren on Russian athletes’ alleged involvement in doping activities, the IPC suspended membership of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) and announced a ban on Russia’s Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer and possibly 2018 Winter Paralympics.
The IPC is expected to decide on the Russian Paralympians’ participation in the 2018 Winter Paralympics, set for March 9-18, later in December.
According to the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, the decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on the participation of the Russian Paralympians in the 2018 Winter Games will be the same as the International Olympic Committee’s ruling on the Russian athletes.
On December 5, the International Olympic Committee has ruled that a special commission would select clean Russian athletes who will be able to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s Pyeongchang.