Can you import STEP files directly into Blender? Do you really need to go through that FreeCAD import/export intermediary? Well, looks like you do, it’s pretty much inevitable. Apparently there has never been a STEP file importer to send you directly into Blender. Maybe it is because STEP files are Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) rather than mesh geometry, and that is the source of the big problem. And, hence, the reason why FreeCAD is required as an intermediary.
Oh, and what else does this forum thread recommend? Keep a version of Blender 2.49 handy in case you are missing a converter. Yeah, right… 10 years later and I still feel I need a version of Blender 2.49 around just for that purpose. This isn’t going to go well looking into the future… I better see what I can do to compile that version of Blender on modern distros on my own.
20200718/DuckDuckGo blender step file
20200718/https://blenderartists.org/t/how-to-convert-and-use-step-files-in-blender/493325/4
20200718/https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/126324/import-step-file-to-blender