The decision came on a day when the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) issued an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the IBU's ruling to ban Russian athletes.

The IBU Executive Board unanimously agreed to suspend the RBU and Biathlon Federation of Belarus (BiFB) with immediate effect after ruling that both organisations had violated "humanitarian obligations" under the worldwide governing body’s Constitution.

It also cited the war in Ukraine, concluding that it would be "unfair" for the RBU and BiFB to be full members of the IBU "when their nations have disrupted the conduct of sport".

The decision by the IBU comes more than a month after Russia began its military assault on Ukraine, aided by Belarus.

The invasion has been widely condemned and resulted in Russia and Belarus being largely frozen out of the sporting world, with numerous International Federations imposing measures against the two nations following recommendations set out by the International Olympic Committee.

A provisional suspension of the RBU and BiFB was initially agreed by the IBU Executive Board on March 17 having determined that they "as representatives of their nations failed to uphold their humanitarian obligations in the spirit of the IBU Constitution".

The RBU and BiFB were both granted seven days to respond before the IBU Executive Board made its final decision on the suspension today.

"Both Federations have violated the humanitarian obligations for member federations under the IBU Constitution," a statement from the IBU read.

"These violations by RBU and BiFB bring the IBU and the sport of biathlon into disrepute, and their active membership would undermine the IBU’s and its members’ efforts to promote its constitutional principles and purposes with credibility.

"In addition, the Executive Board agreed that given the Russian invasion of Ukraine has stopped the activities of the Ukrainian Biathlon Federation it would be unfair for the National Federations of the attacking countries to continue to enjoy the full rights of IBU membership when their nations have disrupted the conduct of sport in Ukraine."

The IBU Executive Board added that it would "monitor the developments of this situation very closely" and would "review this decision in the event of a change of circumstances".

The ruling is expected to be reviewed at this year’s IBU Congress, which is due to be held from September 15 to 19, should the suspension remain in place by then.

Criticism had been levelled at the IBU following its agreement to provisionally suspend the RBU and BiFB earlier this month, with former Russian head coach Valery Polkhovsky reportedly accusing the International Federation of "jumping to conclusions" and making the decision "under pressure".

Athletes from Russia and Belarus had already been banned all IBU events due to the invasion of Ukraine.

The IBU confirmed at the end of last month that it would follow recommendations from the International Olympic Committee "to ensure that the national symbols of Russia and Belarus are not present at IBU events".

In response, the RBU withdrew from the remainder of this season's events, claiming that the decision to force its athletes to compete as neutrals was "unlawful, unreasonable and categorically unacceptable".

The IBU then agreed on March 2 to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from its international events "until further notice".

It has now been confirmed that the RBU is taking the case to CAS.

"The RBU has submitted an initial appeal against the suspension of Russian biathletes," said RBU President Viktor Maigurov.

The RBU has been relegated to provisional membership since 2017, while Belarus has previously been stripped of hosting an IBU World Cup following a series of protests triggered by the disputed re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020.