The event, hosted by the government, had received notice from the countries that they would be unable to attend, its executive director, Nadzeem Abdul Rahman, told Reuters, declining to elaborate on specifics for their withdrawal.

He said it was “not easy” for them to take part after strict sanctions were imposed by the US and European Union on Russia and its ally Belarus following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation”.

“The reasons are fairly obvious – there are no flights here out of Ukraine, while Russia could be facing some issues with making financial transactions and payment for services,” Nadzeem said.

The DSA will run for four days from March 28. The previous edition in 2020 was cancelled because of the pandemic.

Malaysia has previously said it has no immediate intention of imposing sanctions against Moscow, though authorities last week blocked a Russian-flagged tanker targeted by US sanctions from entering a Malaysian port.