Ukraine to Compete at Sochi Paralympics Despite Political Crisis

Ukraine have announced their athletes will compete in the Winter Paralympics in Sochi despite the recent trouble brewing in the region of Crimea.

The Ukrainian Paralympic Committee decided against boycotting the games, announcing a few hours before Friday’s opening ceremony that its athletes would stay.

The decision came after discussions between Ukrainian officials and athletes over whether to pull out in light of the crisis back home and Russia’s military takeover of the Crimean peninsula.

“We are staying at the Paralympics,” Valeriy Sushkevich, president of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, said at a news conference.

The Ukrainian official said the team would leave Sochi if there is any escalation of military conflict.

“I declare should this happen we will leave the games,” Sushkevich said. “We cannot possibly stay here in this case.”

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Phillip Craven welcomed the news.

“We want sport to prevail and a full complement of teams to compete in what we are confident will be a fantastic Paralympic Winter Games,” he said.

“All week the IPC has been working closely with the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee in an effort to keep them here in Sochi. The talking point of Sochi 2014 needs to be great sport and great athletes, not global politics.”

The IPC has appealed for Russia to recognize the U.N.’s Olympic Truce, which asks warring parties to cease hostilities during the Olympics and Paralympics.

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