The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March controversially lifted its recommended outright ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sport implemented because of the war in Ukraine, opting instead to allow them to compete as individual neutrals provided they do not support the conflict and are not affiliated to the military.

The majority of individual sports have followed the IOC's lead, but athletics and equestrian - both led by IOC members in Britain's Sebastian Coe and Belgium's Ingmar de Vos - have been among the notable exceptions.

The European Olympic Committees led by Greek IOC member Spyros Capralos agreed it would have been "impossible" for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the this year's European Games in Kraków-Małopolska, which concluded on Sunday (July 2).

Poland neighbours Ukraine and has taken in millions of refugees as a result of Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022. 

Capralos has been a leading supporter of the refugee relief effort and vigorously opposed the participation of both countries in international sport.

Speaking to insidethegames at the European Games, Italian official Ricci Bitti insisted International Federations should be free to make their own decisions on Russia and Belarus, noting variations across sports and governing bodies.

"It is the only way, because sports are very specific from a technical point and a political point of view," the ASOIF President since 2013 said.

"Political is not very appropriate for sport but political means when you have a Board or management of the International Federation that is 80 per cent European, you have an attitude that is different from a Board of an International Federation that is more universal and more representative.

"This war is impacted by the proximity.

"This war for me has two areas where it is very sensitive - the Anglo-Saxon sphere from Canada to New Zealand, and Europe - the occidental area.

"In Africa and many Asian or South American countries, sadly they care a lot less.

"We need to remember that we are universal.

"We need to remember that sport, as I always said, has to bridge and not to make war."

Ricci Bitti said ASOIF supported the IOC's recommendations, but also backed World Athletics President Coe, who has insisted there should be no place for Russian and Belarusian athletes in sport while the war is ongoing.

"I assured Thomas Bach total support of our Association any times and I expressed this in public debate where I was asked to go where many people do not want to go," he added.

"I am ready to go and confront because I am an experienced person in the Movement.

"We encourage people to find a way to include the neutral athletes, to control neutrality as best they can - because it is not so easy.

"This is the plan many Federations are following, not all.

"I respect all of them totally.

"My friend Seb Coe knows I am very in line with him too.

"It's important to study the situation, and it is obviously not ready."

The IOC has stressed it has not taken a final decision on whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will be permitted to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics, but Bach has declared he would like all National Olympic Committees to be present.

It has not yet provided a timeline on when it intends to make such a call.

The ASOIF President, who formerly led the International Tennis Federation, hopes the stance of International Federations will make it an easier decision to take.

"My position is that this effort of the International Federations will make the final decision for Paris much easier, so we are working for the future, not for the moment," said Ricci Bitti.

"At the moment, everybody could say we have no evidence something has changed, so there is no real reason.

"This is very difficult to argue about the question of what has changed.

"Nothing, or if anything it is even worse, but we have to work looking at the future.

"The attitude of the Federations that try to accommodate some neutral athletes following with some flexibility the recommendations of the IOC, flexibility meaning dependent sport by sport, I believe is a great contribution that the family of the International Federations are giving to the Olympic Movement to be more comfortable in taking the final decision for Paris."

The Ukrainian Government has insisted the country will boycott events where Russian and Belarusian athletes are participating.

Critics claim Russian and Belarusian athletes would be used for political purposes by both nations' regimes even as neutrals, while Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov on the other hand has branded the conditions of participation a "farce" and discriminatory.

The IOC claims it has found a "middle ground".