MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. Barring Russian Para athletes from the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing earlier this year was an act of disgrace, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday.

"It was extremely sad to watch how our Paralympians were barred from the [2022 Winter] Paralympics as it was simply a disgrace," Mishustin said addressing an annual session on the work of the Parliament’s lower house, the State Duma.

"However, we have responded promptly and managed to organize relevant competitions in Khanty-Mansiisk, where the previously announced prize money bucket, was distributed," he continued.

"We paid 4 million rubles for each gold medal, 2.5 million rubles for the silver and 1.7 million for the bronze," Mishustin said. "It was important to do this to shoulder our Paralympians and support our athletes, who had been subjected to discrimination."

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced a decision on March 4 to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from their participation in the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, which kicked off later that day in China’s Beijing. The 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing were held between March 4 and 13. The IPC cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as a reason for its decision.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who oversees issues of sports, culture and tourism in the Russian government, announced on March 5 that he tasked the Russian Sports Ministry and the Finance Ministry to start working jointly with the government of Yugra, located in the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous Area, on the organization of the Paralympic Games ‘We Are Together. Sports.’

The Paralympic tournament ‘We Are Together. Sports’ in Russia’s Khanty-Mansiisk on March 18-21 was attended by Paralympic athletes representing Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Armenia and Kazakhstan.