In doing so the RWF has accused the sport’s governing body of carrying out "an act of betrayal" against athletes, which could lead to "the disintegration of the international weightlifting community".

The Russians say that the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) did not make up its own mind about whether athletes from Russia should be allowed to compete, and by relying instead on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendations it acted against its own Constitution.

The complaints are made in a letter from the RWF to the IWF which has been sent to various parties around the world, including insidethegames.

The letter, signed by RWF President Maxim Agapitov - a former Executive Board member of the IWF - is in response the to the IWF’s decision on May 12 to impose conditions on athletes from Russia and Belarus who wished to compete as individual neutrals.

Belarus agreed to the conditions and joined the Paris qualifying pathway at the IWF Grand Prix in Cuba three weeks ago, while Russia did not.

The conditions, which included barring any athletes or support personnel connected with national security services, compelled everybody seeking eligibility to sign a declaration that they did not support the war in Ukraine.

The RWF pointed out that there was no exclusion of weightlifters in other nations who were directly involved in national security.

"Why are Russian athletes the only ones who have to share and express certain political views in order to be allowed to take part in competitions while other athletes around the world, on the contrary, are requested to stay away from expressing any political views, at least during the competition and in public," the RWF wrote.

"Why are Swiss athletes [subordinated to the national Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports] or German athletes of international level whose activities are funded and managed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Population of Germany, allowed to compete without having to sign any 'declarations'?

"What about athletes representing countries and regions that have been in a state of armed conflict for years, such as Syria and Turkey, Palestine and Israel, Serbia and Kosovo, Armenia and Azerbaijan?"

The RWF criticises the IWF for apparently basing its decision entirely on IOC recommendations.

In the IWF’s statements and documents regarding the Russia-Belarus decision, there was no evidence of other options being discussed or even considered by the Board, the RWF said.

"This, unfortunately, leads us to the conclusion that the IWF Executive Board meeting was a mere formality, and only strengthened someone else's [outside of the international weightlifting family] intention to impose illegal restrictions on Russian athletes, intensify tensions in the world of weightlifting, and even trigger a split.

"It is hard to imagine a more cynical attitude towards members of our own weightlifting community.

"It can only be interpreted as an act of betrayal of the athletes’ interests.

"The saddest thing is that this act of betrayal occurred within a single whole sports community despite all the assurances of 'eternal friendship and cohesion of the weightlifting family'…"

The RWF suggests that "Russian athletes and their counterparts from a number of other nations" are unhappy with the IWF’s decision and the way it was made.

Russia has supporters around the world. 

It has recently competed in non-IWF events in Asia and Latin America; it would have been welcome, to avoid potential disagreements in Europe, to send athletes to the Asian or African Championships; and in August it will be joined by nine other nations from Europe, Latin America and Asia to compete in weightlifting at the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Games in Belarus.

Earlier this month Russia hosted a training camp for a 26-strong team of athletes and coaches from India at Chekhov, near Moscow.

The RWF, which signed a cooperation agreement with India in February, may send a team train to the Asian nation later this year.

When a reporter from the Russian state media service TASS asked an RWF official how the Indian team felt about international sanctions against Russian weightlifters, the reply was: "In communication, we try not to touch on political topics, but we feel the support of our colleagues."

Another complaint from the RWF was that it was given too little time to consider the IWF’s decision, and that its athletes were left in a state of confusion.

The athletes and support personnel had "an extremely short timeframe of several days, or even several hours, to make the most important decisions about signing some questionable 'declarations' with nearly complete lack of understanding, explanations, clarifications and additional documents from the IWF.

"The RWF received a huge number of questions from confused Russian athletes."

The Russians questioned why athletes should sign a declaration that required them to express political views, "thus contradicting Article 50.2 of the Olympic Charter and Article 4.2.z.ii of the IWF Constitution".

This article concerns "the fundamental principles of Olympism" and equal opportunities for all.

Because the policy was based on Swiss law, it did not take into account the fact that signing a declaration that was effectively critical of the Russian Government could constitute a crime under Russian law.

"We consider the decisions in question unjust," the RWF said.

"They go against everything the Olympic principles stand for and are a part of the shadow politics of the IWF management…

"Consequently not a single athlete has come forward to confirm to the RWF his or her willingness to sign the 'declaration'. 

"The reasons, we believe, are quite clear and outlined above.

"All athletes from around the world must be treated equally and cannot be involved in politics, as set out in the Olympic Charter.

"All athletes from around the world, including those from countries that are in acute phases of internal or external conflicts, must be allowed to compete with no restrictions [except for compliance with sports criteria], because sports in general and the Olympic Games in particular are intended to unite people, not to separate them.

"We find the proposal to sign political declarations is discriminatory. 

"Therefore the participation of Russian teams in international competitions on these highly politicised terms is unacceptable."

The RWF also raised the question of outstanding payments due for historic doping violations.

Each one costs $5,000 (£3,950/€4,570), which means when all cases - mostly from 10 years ago or more - are closed the sum owed will be tens of thousands of dollars, possibly $100,000 (£79,000/€91,500).

The IWF mentioned the payments in a letter about eligibility last month, which prompted the RWF to say, "As we understand, this is considered to be the main reason why Russian athletes are not admitted to international competitions by the IWF - otherwise why would such a question be raised in a letter concerning the admission to qualifying competitions?"

The Russians said they were willing to make the payments "as previously agreed, based on the settlements reconciliation" but could not do so because of "mandatory sanctions imposed by the government authorities of Switzerland and Hungary".

The IWF is registered in both those countries and bank transfers from Russia are not possible to either of them, the RWF said.

The International Federation declined to comment on the contents of the Russians' letter and their views on the neutral athletes policy.