Asked at a media conference today about the likelihood of Russian athletes featuring at next year’s Olympics, which take place in just over a year Matytsin said: "There are some chances."

He added: "We are in dialogue with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Russian Olympic Committee and the federation with our partners - with International Federations (IFs)," as reported by Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

"Some IFs, as you know, decided to invite our athletes to participate in international competitions, unfortunately, under a neutral flag without playing the national anthem, which we have always commented as a discriminatory element."

Matytsin, who last week criticised the IOC’s announcement that they would not send the Russian Olympic Committee an invitation to compete at Paris 2024 later this month, added that Russian athletes and coaches would not agree to signing any documents that required them to go against the Russian Government’s position.

"For us, the only unacceptable condition is the signing of some declarations that would be positioned as criticism of a special military operation, the policy of our state," he added.

"Our athletes, coaches will never agree to this."

The IOC ruled in March that athletes from Russia and Belarus could compete as neutrals, providing they did not support the war in Ukraine and had no affiliation to the military.

Some IFs have allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to return, while others have maintained their bans.

The International Gymnastics Federation are due to discuss the issue at an Executive Committee meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, starting on Wednesday (July 19).

The IOC has yet to make a decision on its position regarding Russian and Belarusian athletes participating at Paris 2024, saying it will only do so "at the appropriate time."