The Polish Fencing Association (PZS), with the agreement of the Sports Minister, said the ruling applied to those planning to compete in the Women's Foil World Cup in Poznań between April 21 and 23.

Both statements follow the decision on March 10 by the International Fencing Federation (FIE) to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in competitions with neutral status - a move which will come into force in the second half of April.

The International Olympic Committee's Executive Board recommended this week that individual Russian and Belarusian athletes be allowed to participate in international competitions only as neutral athletes.

Only those who have not publicly spoken out in support of the war in Ukraine and are not associated with the armed forces or national security agencies should be considered, it said.

Elsewhere, the Danish Fencing Federation has said it will not organise competitions for the foreseeable future because home fencers do not want Russians and Belarusians taking part, while the French Fencing Federation has cancelled a men's épée World Cup, due to be held in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés from May 19 to 21, as the organisation says it is "not able to honour the requests of the FIE relating to the reception of Russian and Belarusian athletes."

A host for the World Cup event on those dates is showing as to be decided on the FIE's events calendar.

insidethegames has contacted the FIE for a comment. 

Speaking on Polish radio station RMF, Bortnichuk said: "We will invite those who fulfil the condition".

He said this was the signing of a statement that athletes "do not support military action and oppose war crimes".

"If a Russian athlete signs such a statement, it will be a testament to morality, and then he will be able to participate in competition," Bortnichuk added.

"We will require the signing of such a statement at all sporting events that take place in Poland."

The PSZ statement read: "The Polish Fencing Association and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań reserves the right to strictly control the fulfilment by competitors of both countries of all criteria listed there.

"In order to carry out such control, players and support staff holding a Russian or Belarusian passport will be required to submit a written statement in which they declare that 'they do not support the war in Ukraine, which is a flagrant violation of international law and international treaties'.

"They meet the conditions of neutrality, i.e. they are not associated with the regime of Vladimir Putin, against whom the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant as a person suspected of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

"They are not soldiers or are not employed in Russian or Belarusian military or national security bodies.

"Flags, anthems, national colours or any other identifying signs of Russia and Belarus are not allowed to be displayed during the competition in Poznań, including the entire sports hall.

"No official representatives of the Russian state or Government will be invited or accredited to the competition in Poznań."

The Danish decision against hosting Russian or Belarusian athletes as neutrals was taken at a Board meeting.

"We came to the conclusion that, unfortunately, we are not able to implement this," said Jan Sylvest Jensen, chair of the Board.

"We cannot do this when the rules are the same as now, when Russians and Belarusians are allowed to be part of this."

Referring to the FIE decision, he added: "It's no secret that we voted against their participation.

"The problem is also that our fencers don't want to be a part of it.

"For Denmark, this means that we risk losing tournaments in the future.

"We may not be able to hold international events in Denmark at the highest level."

The Presidium of the Fencing Federation of Ukraine has decided to boycott international competitions which will be attended by athletes from Russia and Belarus.

On March 16, the German Fencing Federation refused to hold a World Cup stage due to the admission of Russians to the competition, which was a qualifier for Paris 2024.

On March 20, the Finnish Fencing and Pentathlon Federation refused to hold a tournament in Turku under the auspices of the FIE.