Lithuanian Sports Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė suggested that the 35 countries on yesterday's online call were "unanimous" in opposing the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes at Paris 2024, although Australia has distanced itself from that position and the United States has said it is awaiting further details on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) proposal.

The IOC has vowed to "explore a pathway" for the return of athletes from Russia and Belarus to international sport under "strict conditions" of neutrality, having been largely frozen out since the widely-condemned invasion of Ukraine.

This has sparked fierce criticism in Ukraine, with the country's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing the IOC of losing its "honesty" on yesterday's call.

Matytsin has welcomed the proposal, and criticised participants in the summit for overruling their National Olympic Committees, who he claimed were supportive of the IOC's stance.

"This is a direct intervention of ministers in the activities of independent international sports organisations, an attempt to dictate the conditions for the participation of athletes in international competitions, which is absolutely unacceptable," he said, as reported by Russian state-run news agency TASS.

"Moreover, more than a month ago, the National Olympic Committees of these countries supported the decision of the IOC on the participation of our athletes in competitions.

"These countries are putting pressure on the activities of independent public organisations, which they tried to accuse us of.

"Now we see an undisguised desire to destroy the unity of international sports and the international Olympic movement, to make sport a means of pressure in order to resolve political issues."

The IOC claimed that the "vast majority" of participants on its consultation calls in January backed a move to seek Russian and Belarusian participation at Paris 2024, but Ukraine and Latvia have threatened a boycott of the Games.

In response, the IOC has warned that a boycott would be a breach of the Olympic Charter.

Matytsin claimed that an absence of Russian and Belarusian athletes at Paris 2024 would divide the Olympic Movement.

"If it, represented by the IOC and international sports federations, makes concessions and succumbs to influence, this will create a precedent and negatively affect the development of sports, its unity," he said.

"I hope that this will be consolidated by the International Federations, which have already supported the decision of the IOC.

"The National Olympic Committees must show that they are an independent force."

The Russian Sports Minister echoed the argument of United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights Alexandra Xanthaki, who referenced the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and a lack of calls for American athletes to miss Athens 2004.

Matytsin also pointed to Xanthaki's claims that excluding athletes because of their passport amounts to "discrimination".

Greek Xanthaki faced criticism on social media for her comments on the issue of Russian and Belarusian inclusion in sport earlier this month.

One of the proposals made at the international summit came from Poland's Sports Minister Kamil Bortnichuk, who suggested dissident Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete at Paris 2024 as a team of neutrals.

This was dismissed by Matytsin, who described it as "humiliating".

A collective statement from the international summit is expected in the "coming days".