Russian athletes will be able to compete as full participants or neutral athletes at next year's Paris Paralympics after the International Paralympic Committee members voted against a full ban of Russia on Friday.
The decision clears the way for Russians, whose athletes are currently banned from any Paralympic competition, to be in Paris and what the IPC will further decide - whether they will do so in full national team gear or if they will compete as neutrals, without national emblems, flags or anthem.
"At the IPC General Assembly in Bahrain, IPC members voted 74-65 (13 abstentions) against a motion to fully suspend NPC (National Paralympic Committee) Russia for breaches of its constitutional membership obligations," the IPC said.
The decision comes two weeks before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai where it will also discuss Russia's and Belarus' participation at the Paris Olympics next year.
The IPC had last year suspended the paralympic committees of both countries and banned their athletes from competing in international competitions.
Although an appeal against the suspension of the committees was upheld this year, para-athletes of the two nations remain banned from competitions to this day.
The IOC has not sanctioned the Russian or Belarus Olympic Committee or Russian members of the IOC, but only banned athletes from competing.
It issued in March a first set of recommendations for international sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return.
(With input from Reuters)
(Cover: Paris Paralympics mascots seen in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. /CFP)