Champions of terror: Intel data exposes Russian athletes who fought against Ukraine

It is noted that the data was published by HUR in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Among the disclosed Russian para-athletes:

1. Artemiy Repkin – Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian Armed Forces, member of the Chuvashia Paralympic athletics team, participant in the 2025 CISM World Championship in para-athletics in Quito, Ecuador, as part of the Russian Armed Forces team, deputy of the Cheboksary City Council of Deputies, member of the All-Russian political party United Russia, and direct participant in the war against Ukraine as deputy commander of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade of the 1st Tank Army.
2. Dmitry Borisov – Captain of the Russian Armed Forces, member of the Russian Paralympic powerlifting team, captain of the sled hockey “Zvezda” veterans team, participated in the war against Ukraine as commander of a motorized rifle company of the 69th Guards Motorized Rifle Division.
3. Anton Lishik – Senior Warrant Officer of the Russian Armed Forces, member of the Russian Armed Forces team, participant in the 2024 CISM World Archery Championship in Dhaka, Bangladesh, current participant in the war against Ukraine, senior non-commissioned officer of the 36th separate disciplinary battalion.
4. Andriy Rovensky – member of the Novosibirsk region powerlifting team. In 2025, he participated in training camps with the national powerlifting team for persons with musculoskeletal impairments. Direct voluntary participant in the war against Ukraine, former paratrooper, participated in combat operations in temporarily occupied Luhansk as a senior rifleman.

“Such Russian athletes must be excluded from the global sports community and suspended from participation in international competitions, even in neutral status. The aggressor state uses Paralympic sport as a tool to fully return to the world sports community,” HUR emphasized.

Russian athletes fight against Ukraine

Recently, Ukrainian intelligence, together with partners, exposed a large-scale scheme of legalizing Russian military personnel in the international Paralympic movement.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Center for Countering Disinformation, published data on Russian athletes who entered Paralympic sport as part of rehabilitation programs for participants of the so-called special military operation.

Dozens of occupiers who took part in the assault on Kyiv, and in the attacks on Avdiivka and Popasna, are now officially listed in the sports teams of the aggressor country. In fact, this is how Russia attempts to legalize former combatants who received disabilities during aggression against Ukraine, integrating them into the world sports community.

Controversial decision regarding Russia and Belarus

Earlier, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) officially granted ten athletes from Russia and Belarus the right to participate in the 2026 Winter Paralympics, which began on March 6.

According to the decision, six Russian athletes will compete in alpine skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing, and four representatives of Belarus will compete exclusively in cross-country skiing.

The main feature of this admission is the return of national symbols: for the first time since 2014, Russian para-athletes compete under the flag of their country. This decision effectively lifts restrictions.