Pozdnyakov, a four-time Olympic fencing champion, was President of the EFC before being replaced by Italian Giorgio Scarso last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"You know, since February last year, the European Fencing Confederation has been trying to be more of a political organisation than professional politicians, so there is not much to discuss here," Pozdnyakov told Russia's official news agency TASS.

"As for jurisdiction, of course, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) is the only legitimate body that makes decisions on the organisation of the international sports calendar.

"As a person who headed the European Fencing Confederation for 6 years, I say this absolutely accurately, with knowledge of the matter, so this is a purely political decision that has nothing to do with the ideals of Olympism and the sports movement."

Pozdnyakov, whose gold medals including winning the individual sabre event at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, has encouraged Russian athletes to fight in the war against Ukraine.

His daughter Sofia Pozdniakova is also a fencer and was an Olympic gold medalist women's individual sabre at Tokyo 2020.

The decision to exclude Russia and Belarus was made at the EFC's Congress in the Polish city of Kraków, which is currently hosting the European Games. 

Delegates considered two propositions made by Ukrainian Fencing Federation President Mikhail Ilyashev which were passed with 23 votes for and 10 against from the 43 Member Federations.

The first was to ban athletes, coaches, and officials holding Russian or Belarusian citizenship from EFC competitions.

The second was to suspend the membership of the two countries' Federations.

These mean that representatives of the two will be unable to enter under-23 events and the cadet circuit and cannot be a part of the EFC Executive Committee of its Commissions.

Russia and Belarus will still be able to compete in senior continental events as they are operated by the FIE. 

It is seen as a moral statement from the EFC and an objection to the FIE's recent actions which have favoured the two countries.

The FIE allowed Russians and Belarusians back to competition in March as neutral athletes in line with International Olympic Committee recommendations. 

It has proved to be highly divisive and has resulted in multiple events in Europe being cancelled.

Organisers of World Cup competitions in Bonn and Tauberbischofsheim in Germany, Poznań in Poland and Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in France all decided to withdraw from hosting in response to the readmissions.

insidethegames understands that although it was a secret ballot, one National Federation vocally against the ban in the Congress was that of Bulgaria.

The country recently hosted the European Championships in Plovdiv which counted towards qualification for next year's Olympic Games in Paris and featured competitors from Russia and Belarus.