Brusnikina, now President of the Russian Synchronized Swimming Federation, has joined in the condemnation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations announced last month that athletes should be allowed to return to international competition under a neutral flag as long as certain conditions were followed.

These included not having publicly supported Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine or being contracted to the Russian or Belarusian militaries or national security agencies.

"The latest decisions of the IOC have been very disappointing," Brusnikina, an Olympic gold medallist in the duet and team at Sydney 2000 and team at Athens 2004, said. 

"It was expected that we would be offered to perform without an anthem and a flag, but in addition to this, a number of criteria were put forward.

"They practically deprive the chances for certain positive steps towards the representatives of Russia, which, perhaps, some international sports federations were inclined to.

"They have already come up with a name, how to designate our athletes without any mention of the country - ‘individual neutral athletes’."

Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Stanislav Pozdnyakov has revealed that he is confident that the strict conditions for athletes to be allowed to return to international competition, including next year’s Olympic Games, will be relaxed by the IOC.

But Brusnikina, elected President of the national governing body last December, accused the IOC of caving into pressure from Ukraine to ban Russian athletes from Paris 2024. 

"The IOC criteria are openly discriminatory," she said.

"They violate not only the rights of the athlete, but also human rights.

"It is obvious to everyone that the decisions of the IOC are dictated solely by politics.

"Neither the Russian Olympic Committee, nor our sports federations, nor athletes violated the Olympic Charter.

"There are no complaints about them in this sense.

"Moreover, our athletes, unlike others, do not use sports grounds to promote their political views.

"But they are not punishing those who, in fact, are now blackmailing the entire Olympic Movement, but those who are Russian citizens."

As insidethegames reported yesterday, Vladimir Salnikov, President of the Russian Swimming Federation, admitted that he does not expect any ban to be lifted in time for them to compete at this year’s World Aquatics Championships.

World Aquatics has currently maintained the ban it imposed on Russian and Belarusian athletes last March in the wake of Vladimir Putin's Ukraine invasion, although announced last Wednesday (April 5) that it was creating a task force to explore their possible return as neutrals.

The Bureau will not hear a report until its meeting in July, and with the Championships in Fukuoka due to take place between July 14 and 30 there would be insufficient time for Russian athletes to be prepared in the event of an opportunity to compete.

"We are naturally waiting for a reaction from World Aquatics," Brusnikina said.

"In the end, so far there are only recommendations for International Federations."

Last September, Anastasia Davydova a former team-mate of Brusnikina’s at Athens 2004, fled Russia in protest of the war against Ukraine.

At the time, she was secretary general of the ROC and had been vice-president of the Russian Synchronized Swimming Federation.