While the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games will be marked today in Verona by the reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes allowed to march under their national colors, our association For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours! and other associations acting in support of Ukraine ( RESU, Ukraine Comb'art, CAMU, Kalyna ) carried out a symbolic protest action in front of the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center, on the Quai Branly, a tool of Kremlin propaganda in the heart of Paris.

“ This action aimed to denounce the strategy of normalizing the gradual return to international sport of Russian athletes who had been excluded from the international competition circuit since 2022,” emphasizes Pierre Raiman, vice-president of Pour l'Ukraine, pour

Their freedom and ours! "The decision to reinstate Russian and Belarusian athletes for

the Paralympic Games not only renounce defending Olympic values and the

Ukrainian athletes, but also crowns with success the strategy of normalizing aggression carried out by Putin's regime, which makes sport a central vector of its propaganda and transforms all its athletes into ambassadors."

We therefore refuse the presence of Putin's athletes in all international competitions, under their flag or not, with the exception of those who have spoken out against the war.

We therefore regret that France did not choose to join the fourteen countries that decided to boycott the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Paralympic Games.

After Winter Games marked by the disqualification of Vladislav Heraskevych from the Winter Olympics because of a helmet paying tribute to his teammates who died in the conflict started by Russia, the reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes, followed by the ban on the parade outfit of the Ukrainian Paralympic delegation, on the pretext that it represented his country within its internationally recognized borders, marked a series of renunciations announcing other withdrawals.

Thus, in anticipation of the next World Cup, the all-powerful President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, declared himself in favor of the immediate lifting of the suspension of Russia and its clubs in international football, arguing that the sanctions "had achieved nothing".

Very recently, the President of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, opened a major political breach by indirectly taking a position in favor of a Russian return to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and mentioning the necessary "neutrality" of sport.

Several federations, such as Judo, have already reinstated Russian athletes.

If we don't put a stop to this movement, it could, from a geopolitical point of view,

already constitutes a strategic victory for the Kremlin dictatorship.

We recall that more than 650 athletes were killed during this war by the Russian aggressor, such as Yevhen, 19, biathlete; Maksim, 22, boxer; Fedir, 19, fencer; Stanislav, 22, judoka; and Volodymyr, athlete.

Our action also aimed to honor their memory and to pay tribute to other athletes forever maimed by Russian bombings, or still prisoners, and prevented by Russia from defending their chance in competitions.

LET'S NOT FORGET THEM!