Bach praised International Federations (IF) for "successfully" delivering events featuring athletes from Russia and Belarus which, he claimed, demonstrated that "it can be done".

The German official’s remarks came when speaking at the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) General Assembly in Swiss city Lausanne.

During his speech, Bach claimed that the autonomy of sport was being "undermined by some Governments" and that "some forces want to divide our global sports movement" as he called "unity" over the readmission of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals.

"I would like to thank the ASOIF Council for its very clear declaration, emphasising the necessity to separate sport and politics," said Bach.

"Everybody knows that such extremely complex political problems cannot have an easy solution, only populists pretend to have easy solutions to solve the most complex problems in the world.

"Unfortunately, we can see every day where such simple solutions are leading to.

"So this complex situation presents one or the other challenge, like when it comes to applying the recommendations and strict conditions but many of you have proven that it can be done.

"Many IFs have organised international sports events and even World Championships, applying the recommendations and very successfully delivering these competitions and you are doing so against the backdrop of the many, I may say naysayers, who want to make people believe that it would never work.

"From the very first moment we are and we will be in this together because at the end it is about the unity of our Olympic Movement.

"In the end, it is about the true universality of your competition and in particular it is about the universality of your World Championships in the truest sense of the word."

Russian and Belarusian athletes had been largely frozen out of sport following the IOC’s recommendations for an outright ban in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The IOC Executive Board ruled in March of this year that competitors from the two countries should be allowed to return as individual neutral athletes provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated to the military.

Archery, canoeing, cycling, fencing, golf, judo, modern pentathlon, shooting, skateboarding, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon,weightlifting and wrestling have all adhered to those recommendations, but athletics, badminton, equestrian, sport climbing and surfing have refused to ease their stance.

Russians and Belarusian athletes are currently competing as neutrals at the World Taekwondo Championships in Baku having done so at the World Judo Championships in Doha.

Ukraine boycotted both events over the decisions to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate.

Bach claimed that the "overwhelming majority" of the international sporting community backed the IOC’s "middle ground approach" to Russia and Belarus. 

He also highlighted the Group of Seven (G7) leaders' recent statement on the war in Ukraine when defending the IOC’s stance.

Leaders from upcoming Olympic hosts France, Italy and the United States as well as Britain, Canada, Germany and Japan and the European Union stated that it was "focused on fair sporting competition as well as on ensuring that Russian and Belarusian athletes are in no way appearing as representatives of their states".

"This is exactly our position," added Bach.

"This is our position defending the autonomy of sport.

"This is our position to establish these recommendations to ensure the neutrality of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions.

"This declaration gives us another strong foundation so let us stand together on this strong foundation united in our mission to truly unify the entire world in peaceful competition."

A decision on the participation of Russians and Belarusians at next year’s Olympics in Paris has yet to be made by the IOC.

ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti addressed the reason why a call had yet to be made on Paris 2024 at his organisation’s General Assembly.

"In my opinion, it is clear that the final decision on the Paris 2024 Olympics has been postponed by the IOC in the hope that something will change on the field," said Ricci Bitti.

"We hope that within the next months or a certain period of time the situation will change and the IOC may then be in a much better position to make a final decision about the 2024 Olympics."

The ASOIF General Assembly also saw the staging of the Council elections.

Ingmar De Vos, the head of the International Equestrian Federation, and Morinari Watanabe, the President of the International Gymnastics Federation, were re-elected.

With World Triathlon leader Marisol Casado finishing her third and final term of office on the ASOIF Council, International Table Tennis Federation President Petra Sörling replaced the Spanish official after being elected unopposed by members.

The International Federation of Sport Climbing, the International Surfing Association and World Skate were all granted full membership by ASOIF while the World Baseball Softball Confederation was admitted as an associate member at the General Assembly.