Zelenskyy has issued an official decree banning the individuals from entering Ukrainian territory for 50 years in response to Russia’s military assault on the country.

Several Olympic champions are among those that have been punished, including ice dancer Nikita Katsalapov, biathlete Svetlana Ishmouratova and gymnast Svetlana Khorkina.

Former Russian international goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, winner of more than 100 caps for his country, has also been hit by the sanctions as well as Russian Triathlon Federation (RTF) President Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The RTF told Russia's official state news agency TASS that the punishments defied "reasonable explanation".

"Support, which people now especially need, has been and will be more important for us than some crazy lists, and the decisions that Kiev is trying to tie to sports have nothing to do with it, sports should remain out of politics," a statement from RTF.

Ishmouratova, a double Olympic gold-medallist and five-time world champion, claimed that she was unfazed by the sanctions.

"It's nice that comrade Zelenskyy knows such a name as Ishmouratova," the former biathlete, who is now a member of the Russian Red Army, told TASS.

"The flag is in his hands, I just laughed.

"I take this calmly.

"We have a huge country with beautiful untouched nature, from a tourist point of view, I won’t lose anything - I won’t be upset if I don’t travel to European and some other countries."

Dmitry Vasilyev, another two-time Olympic biathlon champion that has been sanctioned, added: "I believe that over time everything will be fine in Ukraine and all these lists will be cancelled."

Russian gymnasts have also been listed, including Khorkina, Artur Dalaloyan, Viktoria Listunova and Maria Paseka.

Khorkina is a seven-time Olympic medallist, winning uneven bars gold at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

The 17-year-old Listunova and Dalaloyan helped the Russian Olympic Committee win the respective women’s and men’s all-around team titles at Tokyo 2020, while Paseka has four Olympic medals to her name.

"The decision of the leadership of Ukraine to impose sanctions on our gymnasts can be called complete insanity," Valentina Rodionenko, head coach of the Russian national gymnastics team told TASS.

"People no longer know how else to hurt us.

"I was not going to go to Ukraine, and these sanctions cannot in any way prevent our participation in foreign competitions if the international federation decides in early May on the return of Russians and Belarusians."

Other notable Russian athletes that have been sanctioned include double world swimming gold medallist and Anton Chupkov and three-time kickboxing champion Alexei Papin.

Papin, winner of 15 of his 16 fights since turning to professional boxing, vowed that the sanctions would not stop him from assisting people in Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic - two Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

The two areas as well as the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin after staging so-called referendums last September.

"I’m proud of this," Papin told TASS.

"Maybe it’s because I went to Donetsk, Luhansk, I support our guys.

"I’m not going to stop supporting them, my friends and relatives are there.

"There are friends on the other side, but we are on opposite sides of the barricades.

"In any case, the scales leaned towards my friends and relatives.

"I am for our guys, for our land, for Russia."

The move by Zelenskyy comes at a time when several International Federations have agreed to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the global sporting stage.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been largely banned from international sport since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended last month that athletes from the two nations should be allowed to return as neutrals as long as they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated to the military.

World Triathlon was the latest International Federation to lift its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Skateboarding, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling are among sports which have indicated that they will also adhere with the IOC’s recommendations.

Others, including athletics, equestrian, sport climbing and surfing, have announced that their bans will remain in place.