Olympic gold medallist and member of the Ukrainian Parliament Zhan Beleniuk states the motion has been passed in an attempt to prevent Russians and Belarusians from participating in international sports competitions.

This comes in protest of the most recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations that saw athletes from the two nations reinstated to global sport.

This was under the conditions that they competed as individual neutrals, did not support the war in Ukraine, and were not affiliated with the military. 

However, Ukraine is determined for an outright ban to be implemented.

Almost all International Federations have followed the IOC's advice except World Athletics for one.

The body's President, IOC member and double Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, is adamant that Russia and Belarus should not participate and has stated that "athletics will not be on the wrong side of history".

One organisation that has taken a different stance to that of World Athletics is the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

At the FIE World Championships in Milan last month, Ukraine's four-time Olympic medallist Olha Kharlan was removed from the women's sabre competition after refusing a handshake with Russian opponent Anna Smirnova.

Kharlan had won her opening match 15-7 and held out her sabre to acknowledge her opponent but refused to shake her hand.

This resulted in her being disqualified from the competition with a black card after Smirnova protested by sitting on the piste for 50 minutes.

A black card is the most serious penalty in fencing, and would have ruled Kharlan out of the team competition and result in a 60-day ban from competition.

A decision was later taken by the FIE Bureau to lift the penalty following an appeal by the Ukrainian Fending Federation.

A second resolution from the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, also called on Governments, the IOC, and International Federations to condemn the initial disqualification.

"Parliament, among other things, called on the International Fencing Federation to: completely overturn Olha Harlan's disqualification and formally apologise to her; bring to justice all persons involved in the decision to disqualify Olga Harlan; disqualify Russian athlete Anna Smirnova for life for a provocative act contrary to the Olympic spirit," read a social media post from Beleniuk.

"We will always fight for our athletes, including at the Parliamentary level!"

Kharlan has been promised an "additional quota place" for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by the IOC if she does not qualify.

The FIE has also eased its rules on the post-match handshake between athletes, no longer making it mandatory.