The WT's decision to allow Russian athletes, including Vladyslav Larin, to take part under a neutral flag in international competitions has been criticised by the president of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee, Vadym Gutsait, and the head of Ukraine's Ministry of Youth and Sport, Matviy Bidnyi. 

Larin was one of the 10 taekwondo practitioners whose names were included in the "list of Russian and Belarusian athletes supporting the war against Ukraine" published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports. 

The 2020 Olympic champion, was banned from competing at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships for a video in which he called on people to donate to Russian soldiers. Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to participate as independent neutral athletes, and Ukraine withdrew from the tournament. 

Larin was later allowed to compete as an independent neutral athlete in the 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix series, where he won a gold medal in Taiyuan in October. In December, Larin won the 2023 Wuxi Grand Slam tournament and qualified for Paris 2024.

"We have provided the International Olympic Committee and the WT with all the necessary evidence of Larin's connection with the Russian army and video evidence of his direct support for the war. In response, the IOC said that the commission concluded that Larin's video did not prove that his support was directly related to the war," Gutsait said.

"What could be expected from a federation whose vice-president is the Russian Anatoly Teryekhov, who has been a member of the Board of the International Taekwondo Federation since 2009? We see the result of the so-called "caviar diplomacy", which is used by the aggressor country to lobby for its interests," Bidniy added. 

On 8 January, Gutsait wrote a letter to WT President Chungwon Choue and IOC President Thomas Bach expressing his concerns about Larin's victory in the Olympic qualifying tournament. He mentioned that Larin is a member of the army's Central Sports Club, CSKA. 

"We would like to pay special attention to these issues and take into account the evidence and facts provided by us when making the final decision on the participation of Russian athletes in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as AINs," was written in Gutsait's handwriting.   

The World Taekwondo Council had unanimously approved the participation of Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in World Taekwondo recognised competitions with immediate effect on 10 January.