More than two thirds of Russian athletes set to compete as neutrals in the Paris Olympics have breached the criteria that allows them to do so, a dossier compiled by a human rights law firm has shown.

A Ukrainian Olympian has expressed his fury as Russian athletes are set to compete in the Paris Olympics.

15 Russians and 17 Belarusian athletes are due to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in Paris with strict rules preventing them from being allowed national flag and anthems and banning them from inclusion in the official medals table.

In order to qualify to participate in the games the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has established comprehensive criteria which must be met which includes no active support for the Russian war in Ukraine, no contact with military or national security agencies as well as no teams.

32 of the 59 Russian and Belarusian athletes invited to participate as AINs by IOC agreed to do so but the report complied by Global Rights Compliance indicates that around half of these have contravened the IOC’s rules.

The report names Alena Ivanchenko who it says has liked pro-war posts on social media, tennis player Elena Vesnina who is said to have liked posts describing Russian soldiers killing Ukrainians and rower Yauheni Zalaty who it says is a junior sergeant in the Belarusian Armed Forces.

Wayne Jordash KC, President Global Rights Compliance, said: “The IOC is turning a blind eye to the involvement of Russian and Belarusian athletes who have demonstrated their support for Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. This is not only a violation of the UN Charter, but it continues to punish Ukraine’s innocent men, women and children with a daily catalogue of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

“If the IOC’s stated aim is to “Build a Better World through Sport” then action must be taken by the IOC to demonstrate that it – and its associated businesses – do more than just play lip-service to ethics and human rights for all.”

Vladyslav Heraskevych is a Ukrainian Winter Olympian competing in the skeleton, who garnered worldwide attention during the Beijing Winter Olympics when he held up an anti-war sign just days before Putin’s invasion.

Since then, he has worked tirelessly to commerate Olympic athletes killed in the conflict and to collect evidence to ensure the suspension of Russian athletes.

Vladyslav dismisses the idea that sport and politics are not intrinsically intertwined and his argument has merit.

From Roman emperors holding games to celebrate foreign conquest to Saudi Arabia’s attempt to use the bright lights of British boxing to blind critics from peering too deeply into the kingdom’s human rights record, sport has a long history of masking a society’s ills.

Vladyslav said: “Thomas Bach the President of the IOC says sport should be used to build bridges.

“He can visit Crimea Bridge and he can watch how they use it to bring tanks and rockets to attack Ukraine.”

Since Russia first invaded Ukraine with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the country has held a Winter Olympics in Sochi and FIFA World Cup in 2018

Vladyslav said: “Big politicians try to pretend that the situation in Crimea in 2014 was different but it wasn’t.

“The territory of Ukraine was occupied by Russia and they allowed Russia to wash its image.”

The news that some of those participating in Paris have links to their country’s armed forces doesn’t surprise Vladyslav, Russian sport and government have a decades long history of collaboration.

Russia’s most successful club CSKA Moscow, roughly translates as “central sports club of the army” whilst to this day, it sports the Soviet Union’s Red Star at the heart of its crest.

Russia’s intimate relationship with Olympic sports is even more pronounced, with the Soviet Army operating a sophisticated doping regime to enhance its athletes’ chances of success on the world stage. In 2017, Russia was suspended by the IOC after evidence emerged of state sponsored use of performance enhancing drugs amongst its athletes.

Vladyslav doesn’t believe that their inclusion under a neutral banner limits the propaganda afforded to the Russian Government. He said: “It plays a big role in Russian propaganda, many of their athletes are playing huge roles in the Army.”

The counterpoint often given towards blanket bans for athletes of a nation is whether or not it is fair to punish individuals for the actions of their state?

For Vladyslav, it is difficult, bordering on impossible for Russian or Belarusian athletes to detach themselves from the politics of their nation when competing on the world stage.

He says: “My goal is not to destroy the career of Russian athletes, I don’t care about them, I care about the life my classmates being killed by rockets.

“If we could guarantee that they could not be used in propaganda, through public statements possibly but it is difficult.”

The IOC has taken steps to manage the potential for confrontation between Ukrainian and Russia and Belarusian athletes.

It has advised Ukrainian athletes not to take part in news conferences where athletes from the two nations might be present and to avoid being photographed with them at medal ceremonies.