Bychkov revealed that he has been in regular contact with the IFSC which decided earlier this month at their General Assembly in Singapore to maintain a ban imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

"A dialogue with the international federation is constantly ongoing," Bychkov told Russia's official state news agency TASS.

"Now we hold online meetings about once every two weeks, the situation is changing for the better.

"At the moment, we have agreed that they will make a decision before the summer, because after that the World Championships will take place, and if we are not allowed to take part, then there is nowhere left to compete."

The IFSC World Championships are due to to begin in Berne in Switzerland on August 1 and serve as a qualification event for next year's Olympic Games in Paris.

"The prospect is such that the admission of our athletes to the competition is unlikely, the conditions under which they offer to admit us are humiliating," Bychkov claimed.

"I talked with the athletes, and some no longer want to return under such conditions."

The IOC recommendations do not allow "active support" of the war in Ukraine.

Nor do they not permit the participation of athletes or support staff "contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies."

Such a ban includes members of the CSKA club in Moscow, which numbers around 20 climbers amongst its members.

"Of course, there are fears that because of this, our athletes may not be allowed anywhere," Bychkov admitted.

Bychkov is the latest Russian sports official to hit out at the restrictions which also ban the use of national flags and anthems following earlier criticism from Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin and Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Stanislav Pozdnyakov.

There were three Russian climbers at the the re-arranged 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo competing under the ROC banner. 

Their best finisher was Viktoriya Meshkova, who finished ninth in the women’s combined.