Athletes from the RPC and the Paralympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus were prevented from participating yesterday.

Athletes from both nations had initially been cleared to compete under a neutral banner at the Games following the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Russian athletes were already competing neutrally under the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport following the nation's doping scandal.

The IPC U-turned on its original decision after multiple National Paralympic Committees threatened a boycott.

IPC President Andrew Parsons had said the environment in the Paralympic Villages had worsened as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, with many NPCs taking issue with the IPC's original stance.

The RPC has issued a statement confirming it had asked law firms to examine the possibility of challenging the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to have athletes cleared to compete.

The organisation said it was prevented from appealing to due to IPC rules.

“After receiving the decision of the IPC on the non-admission of the team to the Games, the RPC involved leading Russian and foreign law firms to conduct a legal examination of the possibility of the RPC applying to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and obtaining a positive decision during the accelerated proceedings,” the RPC said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, this is prevented by Article 2.9 of the Paralympic Games Section of the IPC Rules, according to which the IPC “may, at its sole discretion, at any time refuse to participate in any athlete without giving reasons”, as well as the absence in the IPC Constitution of an arbitration clause allowing the RPC to apply to CAS to resolve disputes.

“The Executive Committee of the RPC and the Headquarters of the RPC at the XIII Paralympic Games, which includes the presidents of the federations and senior coaches in winter Paralympic sports, decided to reserve the right to apply to the appropriate international and national courts when the RPC considers it timely and necessary. 

"The RPC is asking for help and support from the World Disability Union and Rehabilitation International.

“The Russian Paralympic Committee and its athletes currently do not consider it possible or expedient to stay in Beijing and are planning to leave the capital of the Winter Games, the city of wonderful people, in the near future.”

The RPC also hit out at a “politicised” decision to prevented athletes from competing at the Games.

The organisation accused the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its President Thomas Bach, which it claimed would “lead to the degradation and collapse of the entire world of sports.”

The IOC recommended on Monday (February 28) that athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus should be banned from all international sporting events following the invasion of Ukraine.

IPC President Andrew Parsons expressed affected athletes yesterday.

Parsons said the athletes were victims of the actions of their country’s Governments.

Russian and Belarusian athletes won 12 gold medals at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games from 80 medal events.

The RPC were expected to have one of the largest delegations at Beijing 2022, with 71 athletes confirmed last month.

The organisation had said they were due to compete in all sports included on the programme, across 61 medal events.

It is the second Paralympic Games where Russian athletes have faced a total ban, following the IPC decision not to allow athletes from the nation to participate at Rio 2016 in response to the state sponsored doping programme.

Calls have already been made in Russia to hold events for the nation's athletes who have been prevented from competing in Beijing.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics will begin today.