In his opening remarks, Presidential Aide, Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport Alexei Dyumin noted that several problems must be resolved in order to successfully develop adaptive sports. “One of them is the accessibility of sports facilities and equipment for people with disabilities. In order to resolve this issue in a staged and consistent manner, an inventory of the entire sports infrastructure in Russia must be taken including that for adaptive sports. The President has already issued a corresponding instruction,” Alexei Dyumin said emphasising that this work must be completed by the end of 2026.
According to him, the shortage of coaches, instructors and adaptive sports coordinators is also an acute issue. The Presidential Aide also noted that access to information about where to undergo physical rehabilitation and which sport to do are among the problems that worry people, which is confirmed, in particular, by the latest survey by the Popular Front.
“Overall, the development of adaptive sports that help to effectively rehabilitate people with disabilities, always remains topical. In today’s conditions, when people return from the front, including many with serious injuries, it is urgent that we step up this work immediately. We have to look for most diverse solutions and use all funding sources available,” Alexei Dyumin stressed.
Chairman of the State Council Commission on Physical Culture and Sports, Tula Region Governor Dmitry Milyayev said that major efforts were undertaken to prepare a report for the meeting of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport and thanked the Popular Front for its work to identify problems in adaptive physical culture and adaptive sports through surveys.
The draft report contains an analysis of the current state of adaptive physical culture and adaptive sports, as well as the main guidelines for their development until 2030 and for the longer term up to 2036.
Minister of Sport, President of the Russian Olympic Committee Mikhail Degtyarev noted that about 2.8 billion rubles were allocated for the development of adaptive sports in 2025 while the number of events for veterans of the special military operation tripled this year. Mikhail Degtyarev also spoke about the Sports Ministry’s priorities in this area in the next five years. The Minister said that improving the legislative base for adaptive physical culture and sport was one of the essential areas of this work which would make it possible to improve the effectiveness of support programmes, distribute resources with a more targeted focus, and help more people do sports regularly.