RPC cites "unfriendly countries" and prepares for Asia transition

At the 'Development of International Sports Cooperation' conference in Moscow from 20-23 May, Pavel Rozhkov, head of the Russian Paralympic Committee, announced that the organisation is considering joining the Asian Paralympic family.

Rozhkov spoke about diplomatic relations with the International Paralympic Committee and other Paralympic committees during the conference and mentioned the importance of the fact that 40 countries had arrived at the conference, stating that the fact that they "were not afraid and joined us speaks volumes".

During his speech, Rozhkov also spoke about the RPC's return to the International Paralympic Committee. In September 2025, the IPC General Assembly in Seoul voted not to maintain the suspension, which had been imposed on Russian sport following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While the IPC restored the Russian body's rights within the Paralympic movement, Rozhkov claims that certain countries are attempting to exclude the RPC from the IPC.

"At the last assembly in Seoul, an important decision was made in our favour, and all restrictions were subsequently lifted. This cooperation must be maintained. Decisions can always be made. Unfriendly countries could raise the issue of our exclusion again. Therefore, it is important to maintain international cooperation. Many countries missed us during the time we were under sanctions," Rozhkov stated.

He thanked everyone for their efforts in Seoul, after which the RPC were admitted to the Paralympic Games. However, he noted that, having been under sanctions for almost 10 years, there had been no opportunity to engage in international cooperation.

"Now we are ready to share our experience of preparing our educational programmes. We have many programmes that we would like to share. We are ready to collaborate openly. During our time in isolation, we received numerous proposals from countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa for joint programmes," he stated.

Rozhkov said that the RPC will continue to sign bilateral agreements.

"We have already concluded agreements with a number of countries. Today, we will sign agreements with the Paralympic Committees of India, Iran, Panama and the Central African Republic. There is now a steady interest in developing Paralympic sport in Russia," he noted.

The head of the RPC also responded to questions about relations with international governing bodies, noting that the organisation is in the process of transitioning from Europe to Asia.

"We are expecting the president of the Asian Paralympic Committee here. We work closely together and have submitted requests to make this transition. We hope that he will manage to fly in. We pay a lot of attention to diplomacy, given that we were under sanctions for 10 years," Rozhkov said.