Shcherbakova won gold in the women's singles event at Beijing 2022, and was nominated in the most valuable skater category at the ISU Awards.

This has proved controversial given the cwar in Ukraine, which has led to athletes from Russia and Belarus being excluded from ISU competitions in line with International Olympic Committee recommendations.

Russian's offical state news agency TASS reported that Shcherbakova has not been invited to attend the award ceremony in-person in the Swiss city of Zürich, and this has been confirmed by the ISU.

"The ISU Council specifically considered the issue of nominations for the ISU Prize at its meeting in October 2022," the ISU told TASS.

"The Council was informed that there is no legal basis to exclude Russian and Belarusian skaters who meet the criteria for the respective award categories, and therefore decided that any skaters from these countries may be included in a long list of candidates for public and media voting.

"The ISU Board also agreed that any nominees from Russia or Belarus will not be invited to attend the award ceremony in person for security reasons, which is in line with ISU policy, but may be invited to join virtually."

State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova, the 2006 Olympic 500 metres speed skating gold medallist, disputed the ISU's reasoning for the lack of an invitation.

"I want to say a non-Parliamentary word, these are all excuses," Zhurova told TASS.

"They simply could not allow Russian athletes to be awarded and found a far-fetched reason.

"Why can tennis players be provided with security, but skaters can’t?

"In figure skating, people are calmer than in football, but here there is no competition, and it is easier to ensure security.

"If they think that some kind of attack can be made on her, they could provide her with bodyguards."

The 18-year-old Shcherbakova is the only Russian or Belarusian in contention at the ISU Skating Awards.

Competing for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), she beat compatriot Alexandra Trusova to gold in the women's singles at Beijing 2022.

The competition was overshadowed by a doping scandal involving the pre-Games favourite Kamila Valieva, also of the ROC.

Valieva was cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport despite a positive test for banned substance trimetazidine, reported after she had helped the ROC to gold in the team event.

The ongoing legal case means medals have still not been awarded in the team event.

Shcherbakova, also a silver medallist at last year's European Championships behind Valieva, faces competition from the United States' men's singles Olympic champion Nathan Chen and French ice dance Olympic gold medallists Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron for the most valuable skater award.

This category seek to honour the skater or skaters who promoted figure skating through a successful competition season, the creation of media attention and engagement.

There are awards in seven other categories, including best coach, lifetime achievement and special achievement.