The Russian flag has not been flown at a Paralympic Games since 2014

No UK government ministers or officials will attend the Winter Paralympics opening and closing ceremonies after Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited to compete under their national flags.

Six athletes from Russia and four from Belarus will be directly representing their countries - rather than competing as neutrals, as athletes did at last month's Winter Olympics.

This will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at a Paralympic Games since Sochi 2014, with sanctions previously imposed firstly because of a state-sponsored doping programme, and then because of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted its partial ban on athletes from the two countries competing at the Games.

A government spokesperson said: "We strongly oppose the decision of the International Paralympic Committee to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

"We have been clear that the Russian and Belarusian states should not be represented in international sport while the barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine is ongoing.

"Therefore, no government ministers or officials will attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Paralympics."

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Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock will be in Cortina purely to support British athletes but was never scheduled to attend Friday's opening ceremony at the Verona Arena.

Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, attended the opening ceremony of last month's Winter Olympics., external

On Wednesday, the IPC told BBC Sport that it had been informed that athletes from Ukraine, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland will boycott the opening ceremony.

Germany's Paralympic Committee has also said that its team will feature in a pre-recorded broadcast section of the event, but will not be in the Parade of Nations, in order to express solidarity with Ukraine.

Skiing duo Menna Fitzpatrick and Scott Meenagh, who are Great Britain's flagbearers, will not be at the ceremony as they are competing the following day in Cortina.

Instead, they will take part via a video sequence, along with fellow ParalympicsGB team-mates, to be shown as part of the parade.

"We made that decision [not to attend] about a year ago when we knew that the opening ceremony was going to be as far away from where we are up here in the mountains as we are," ParalympicsGB chef de mission Phil Smith told BBC Sport.

"I think there are a number of nations who are in the same boat. We know that any athletes who do attend from here in Cortina won't be getting back to the athlete village until between two or three in the morning.

"All of our athletes here compete on the first day so from a pure performance and sport perspective, it was never our intention to send athletes to the opening ceremony."

The Games will run from 6-15 March.