Last year, Russia and Belarus regained full membership rights in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), after a vote by the organisation’s member states lifted their partial suspensions.

That opened the way for the IPC’s February announcement that it had granted permission for six Russian and four Belarusian para-athletes to take part in the upcoming games in Italy, which will take place from 6 to 15 March, under their national flags.

TVP said in its statement that it was “astonished” to learn of that decision, which it regards as “a disturbing manifestation of the blurring of responsibility of Russia and Belarus for crimes committed in Ukraine, and we do not and never will consent to this”.