On Tuesday, February 17, six Russian and four Belarusian athletes were allowed to participate under the flags of their countries in the Paralympic Games in Italy, which will be held March 6-15. The day before, Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych released a statement that the Russian Paralympic team includes former military personnel who fought against Ukraine.
The Suspilne investigative editorial office checked the list of Russians who were allowed to compete at the Paralympics in Milan, and identified Russian athletes who fought against Ukraine and declare their ambitions to participate in international competitions.
Bilateral invitation as an exception
Russians and Belarusians were banned from the Paralympic Games in 2022, at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At that time, the national teams of both countries were unable to participate in the winter competitions in Beijing.
In September 2025, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) returned Russian and Belarusian athletes to Paralympic sports, allowing them to compete under their national flags. However, the Russians did not have time to go through all the qualifying stages to participate in this year’s Paralympics.
On Tuesday morning, February 17, the president of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), Pavel Rozhkov, announced that six Russian athletes had received bilateral invitations to the Paralympic Games. The list and the statement were published on the RPC website. In the evening, it was confirmed by the International Paralympic Committee. European media, citing AFP, wrote that Belarusian and Russian athletes would be treated the same as athletes from other countries, according to an IPC representative.
According to the Russian Paralympic Committee website, Russian athletes have received a bilateral invitation. This invitation differs from the usual quotas in its individual and contractual nature.
“Regular quotas are distributed automatically based on the results of qualifying competitions and ratings, while bilateral quotas are issued under special agreements between the IPC and national committees. Bilateral invitations allow bypassing the standard selection stages if an athlete has scored rating points at individual starts, but has not met all the criteria for full qualification. They are used in exceptional cases, for example, for athletes from countries that have restrictions,” the RPC website says.
According to Rozhkov, three-time Paralympic champion Alexei Bugaev and two-time world champion Varvara Voronchikhina will compete in alpine skiing, multiple world champion Ivan Golubkov in cross-country skiing, as well as world championship medalist Anastasia Bagiyan with leader Sergei Sinyakin, Dmitry Fadeev and Philippe Shebbo Monzer will compete in para snowboard.
“Yesterday they were killing Ukrainians in Ukraine”
Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified by the IOC from participating in the Olympic Games because of a memorial helmet with portraits of Ukrainian athletes who died due to the Russian invasion, wrote on his Instagram page:
“The Russian Paralympic team includes former military personnel. That is, yesterday they were killing Ukrainians in Ukraine, and tomorrow they will continue to do so, spreading Russian propaganda internationally. We must prevent this.”
Heraskevych’s words are confirmed by the statement of the aforementioned Pavel Rozhkov. In September 2025, he claimed that about 30 participants in the war against Ukraine were included in the Russian Paralympic teams.
As the Suspilne investigative editorial office has established, there are no former Russian military personnel among the six Russians who were allowed to participate in the 2026 Paralympic Games. However, on April 27, 2022, Varvara Voronchikhina received a state award and made a speech, thanking Vladimir Putin “for not leaving her in a difficult moment, for not letting her despair after being suspended from the Paralympic Games”.
In an interview in 2022, Ivan Golubkov stated that he did not believe that he would be able to compete at the Paralympics again, “We arrived in Beijing, we even started training, and no trouble was expected. Then this news came… Honestly, it is hard for me to imagine that the next Paralympics will take place, given the current situation. In four years, the Games are to be held in Italy, and it is hard to believe that we will be allowed there. We will wait and see.”
In March 2023, Ivan Golubkov, Alexei Bugaev, and Varvara Voronchikhina received the Russian Paralympic Committee’s “Return to life” award.
During the award ceremony, the president of the committee, Pavel Rozhkov, made a speech in which he stated, “Among the Paralympic athletes, there are many who participated in hostilities in Chechnya, Afghanistan, and South Ossetia. Since the beginning of the special military operation (this is what the Russians call the war against Ukraine – Ed.), they, together with the leadership of the RPC (Russian Paralympic Committee – Ed.), have been visiting patients of military hospitals and participants in the special military operation. During the meetings, the athletes share their rehabilitation experience, talk about Paralympic sports, and conduct master classes in adaptive sports.”
From 2024, Rozhkov began to make public statements that the Russian Paralympic team and regional teams already included participants in the war against Ukraine. In his 2026 New Year’s address, he mentioned 500 veterans.
Russia actively involves Russian military personnel in sports. Special programs, contests, and competitions are organized for them. The Russian Paralympic Committee states that involving military personnel in major sports is one of the most important and serious areas of their and all-Russian sports federations activities.
In particular, according to the information from the committee’s website, six former Russian military personnel who fought against Ukraine are now members of the Russian track and field and swimming teams.
“The world will change and we will be present in international competitions”
The Russians have not published the list of participants in their Paralympic team, but the editorial team has identified some former Russian military personnel who fought against Ukraine and now declare ambitions to participate in the Paralympic Games.
Russian propagandists pay a lot of attention to promoting the stories of these athletes, talking about their injuries and their path to sports. However, they rarely indicate the circumstances of their service and try to hide in which military units they served. We have found these details.
Thus, the Russian Paralympic team reserve includes 41-year-old para snowboarder from St. Petersburg, Ivan Shiryayev.
Shiryayev entered the Paralympic sport after being wounded in the war in Ukraine. Before 2022, he worked as a mechanical engineer at a soft drinks factory. As he told Russian media, he was drafted in the autumn of 2022 to the motorized brigade in the occupied part of Luhansk region, where he commanded a detachment. He was wounded in the autumn of 2023 near Bakhmut. His leg was amputated and he was awarded the Zhukov medal.
In the winter of 2025, Ivan Shiryayev began participating in sports competitions in Russia. In an interview with a Russian propaganda publication, he said that he “dreams of participating in the Paralympics”. According to the publication, he is currently in the reserve of the Russian national team and a member of the St. Petersburg para snowboard team.
Another former soldier who took part in the war against Ukraine and has ambitions for the Paralympics is 49-year-old Vladislav Shinkar. He went to fight against Ukraine in 2014. As Russian propagandists write, “he took the pain of Donbas as his own” because he spent his childhood and youth in Donetsk. He immediately joined the “Vostok” battalion, where he first served as a machine gunner, and later as the battalion deputy commander for armament.
Shinkar had the call sign “Shiba”. According to him, he was wounded and lost both legs on April 12, 2015, in the village of Zhabunky in Donetsk region. A few months later, after prosthetics, he continued his service as deputy battalion commander for personnel work. In 2017, he was dismissed to the reserve.
“Russia did everything right and on time because if Ukrainian troops had entered the territory of Donetsk, the city would have been wiped out,” Shinkar commented to the propaganda publication.
After retiring to the reserve, Shinkar became interested in wheelchair fencing. In an interview published on December 3, 2025, he stated:
“In the near future, you will see, the world will change and we will be present in international competitions. Those guys who defended their homeland at the front will defend the honor of Russia at international competitions.”
In 2024, the president of the Russian Paralympic Committee, Pavel Rozhkov, stated that Shinkar was included in the Paralympic team because he took second place at the Russian championship.
Nikolai Bondarenko from Krasnodar volunteered to fight against Ukraine in 2022. In April 2022, during the battle for Popasna in Luhansk region, he was wounded and lost his right arm. In a comment to a Russian propaganda resource, he explained his motivation for fighting against Ukraine:
“I just could not imagine how one could stay away at such a time. I saw the reports from the front and rushed there to help the guys. This is not heroism; this is a simple desire to do something necessary, to contribute to the victory.”
In February 2026, Nikolai became a master of sports of Russia and the winner of the all-Russian final of the “Defenders of the Fatherland Cup” in archery among athletes with musculoskeletal disorders. He has declared his ambitions to become a participant in the Summer Paralympic Games.
Another Russian athlete who actively participates in international competitions is Russian Army lieutenant Tsyden Geninov, 29, who is the Russian archery champion among people with musculoskeletal disorders.
Tsyden, from the village of Urda-Aga in Trans-Baikal region, had served in the Russian army since 2020. According to the Russian movement “Healthy Fatherland”, his contract was coming to an end at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but while on leave he was called to his unit and sent for training. After the training, he found himself in the war against Ukraine.
“I did not particularly consider any other choice. Work is work,” Tsyden Geninov commented to propagandists about the war.
During the war in Ukraine, Tsyden lost his right leg below the knee. He does not publicly comment on the circumstances of his wound and does not mention in which unit he served. According to the Suspilne investigative editorial office information, he served in the 5th separate guards tank brigade, which took part in the offensive on Kyiv region and whose soldiers committed brutal war crimes against civilians.
According to the Russian Paralympic Committee, Tsyden Geninov is currently nominated in Russia for the title of the best athlete of 2025.
In 2025, Tsyden participated in the World Military Archery Championship in Tehran. There, he won gold in the individual competition in the classic bow.
Anton Bushmakin from Krasnodar region, 33, is a former marine. He volunteered for the war against Ukraine and decided to become a sapper. In April 2023, he was wounded near Avdiivka in Donetsk region while performing a combat mission.
Anton often makes propaganda statements, saying that he was wounded by a French-made mine. For his participation in the war against Ukraine, he was awarded the 4th degree St. George Cross.
After rehabilitation, Bushmakin decided to become an athlete. Currently, Anton is actively involved in kayaking and is a member of the Krasnodar region national team of athletes with musculoskeletal disorders.
In January 2026, a film “Step up” was made about him, in which he says that he is preparing for the Paralympics, “As soon as the situation changes, I will be ready. I am ready to compete. Of course, under my flag, under the anthem, and to win these competitions. This is the goal: to get first place at the Paralympics.”
31-year-old Rinat Vasilyev, according to Russian propaganda resources, is now a para powerlifter. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he participated in the war against Ukraine. Rinat joined the Russian army at the age of 19, after graduating from a construction college. First, he served the conscription term, and then signed a contract. In total, he served 10 years in the Russian army.
According to Russian propagandists, in February 2022, Vasilyev’s battalion, which was based in Stavropol, was sent to Crimea. From there, Rinat, as part of the occupation forces, went to Melitopol. Russian propaganda media write that there Rinat commanded the convoys that brought ammunition to the front line.
The “Peacemaker” resource states that Rinat lost his legs near Melitopol on March 18, 2022.
Rinat Vasilyev has his own YouTube channel. One of the videos features edited photos from his military career and life after participating in the occupation of Ukrainian territories. The video is set to a soundtrack with Putin’s announcement of the start of a “special military operation”, i.e., a war against Ukraine.
Rinat is a three-time Moscow powerlifting champion and a member of the Moscow Paralympic team. He is also a speaker at the so-called Paralympic lessons held for participants in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In March 2025, Russian media reported that Vasilyev was training at least three times a week preparing for the Paralympic Games.
39-year-old Ruslan Ustyuzhin from Tatarstan currently lives in Ulyanovsk. He had served in the Russian airborne troops since 2014. The Suspilne investigative editorial office has established that he was a serviceman of the 31st separate guards airborne assault brigade. There is information on Russian social networks that he participated in the battle for the Hostomel airport in Kyiv region in February 2022.
In May 2022, during fighting near Popasna in Luhansk region, Ustyuzhin had his leg torn off due to a shell explosion.
According to Russian propagandists, the medical treatment took more than six months. In October 2022, he returned to Ulyanovsk, where he continued to serve in the airborne division.
In February 2025, in one of his posts on the city’s Telegram channel, Ruslan Ustyuzhin said that he was dreaming of going to the Paralympic Games as part of the sitting volleyball Russian national team.
45-year-old lieutenant colonel of the Russian Army Denis Ishbulatov is currently a Paralympic athlete in the Tula region bullseye shooting team. He is also one of the leading shooters in Russia in this category and a Russian Cup winner. Propagandists claim that in this sport, “his sniper talent began to be revealed in all its glory”.
Ishbulatov served in the 106th guards airborne Tula division, which participated in the offensive on Kyiv region. According to the Suspilne investigative editorial office information, Ishbulatov also served in the 104th airborne assault division, which is currently deployed in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region.
After being wounded in April 2022, when he lost his right leg, Ishbulatov continued his service at the regional military registration office.
40-year-old hero of Russia, colonel Rustam Sayfiulin from Tyumen, was a participant in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russian propagandists say that Rustam rose from a platoon commander to the commander of an engineer-sapper regiment and has 20 years of military experience.
Rustam Sayfiulin fought as part of the occupation forces in Chechnya, Syria, and Georgia. From the first days, he participated in the war against Ukraine, commanding the 40th engineer and sapper regiment of the 41st army of the Central Military District.
Colonel Rustam Sayfiulin told Russian media that he had lost his legs during the crossing of the Desna River. He was supposedly able to stop the bleeding himself and continued to command the crossing. His propaganda video has gathered millions of views on YouTube. It tells about a resident of one of the occupied villages, who allegedly approached Sayfiulin with a story that 5 years before the full-scale invasion, their village was settled by Bandera followers who Ukrainized the village.
Sayfiulin is currently the deputy head of the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering Command School and is involved in powerlifting and table tennis. The Russian propaganda publication wrote that in 2023, at the interregional “Defenders of the Fatherland Cup”, he led a team of veterans from Tyumen region, won the table tennis competition and became a silver medalist in powerlifting.
Rostislav Kostenko is another Russian athlete who fought against Ukraine. Russian propagandists write that before 2014, while living in Luhansk, he traveled to competitions in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, and Lviv. He participated in the Ukrainian youth fencing championships. However, he stayed to live in Russia-occupied Luhansk.
According to Russian propaganda resources, in 2022 Kostenko was drafted into the ranks of the so-called Luhansk People’s Army. He served as a grenade launcher and had the call sign “Cornet”.
After an injury that cost him his left foot and shin, he returned to fencing. In March 2023, he was included into the reserve roster of the Russian national Paralympic wheelchair fencing team.
