The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) officially voted at its General Assembly in Bangkok in Thailand in July to allow up to 500 athletes from the two countries to compete at the Asian Games, due to open in the Chinese city on September 23 and conclude on October 8.

But having originally agreed to the proposal when it was first discussed at the Olympic Summit in Lausanne last December, the IOC then blocked it as they claimed it “was not feasible due to technical reasons."

That drew an angry response from Igor Levitin, whose official title is Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and who is closely involved in any decision related to sport made by the Kremlin.

He claimed that International Federations were keen to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the IOC were blocking them.

"We understand that all the foundations of the Olympic Charter have been violated; now there is no decision on the performance of Russian and Belarusian athletes," Levitin told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, as reported by Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

"International federations are doing everything to ensure that athletes perform, but there are references to the IOC.

"As soon as we began coordination in the Asian federations, the Olympic Council of Asia began [to experience] problems.

"We were promised to perform at the Asian Games, but now they are again thinking about whether to admit us or not.

"Now there is a dictate from the IOC to the Continental Olympic Committees.

"This further emphasises all the problems."

At the same Forum in Vladivostok, Putin had claimed the Olympic Movement was "degrading" and that by suspending Russia the IOC "distort the original idea of Pierre de Coubertin".

Levitin, formerly a Minister of Transport and who was President of the European Table Tennis Union before stepping down temporarily after the attack on Ukraine, claimed that Putin was leading efforts to ensure Russian athletes still had opportunities to compete.

“It’s sad, this is pure politics, not sport, but the President, the Russian Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation are doing everything to ensure that our athletes are always in action, everything is being done to hold competitions in Russia and invite foreign friends to our country,” he said.

At the same Forum, Russia’s Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin claimed they were continuing to receive positive overtures about returning to international competition because they "understand the hopelessness of restrictions on Russian athletes".

Matytsin told the Forum, "We are not closing ourselves off from anyone, we are a self-sufficient powerful power and have proven this throughout history.

"We have no one and nothing to prove, we continue to be a country that sets standards in the field of world sports.

"The desire of world federations to come and take part in competitions remains,

"Therefore, we continue the dialogue.

"Despite the sanctions and misunderstandings with the global sports community, we see that the ice has broken, there are examples of international federations of wrestling, judo, tennis and many others.

"We see that gradually the leaders of world sports understand the hopelessness of restrictions on Russian athletes."