Sophia the Great answered the question about the flight of fencers to the USA with the phrase “their right”

Two-time Olympic champion in saber fencing as part of the Russian national team Sofia Velikaya said “RIA News”that Russian fencers who left for the USA have the right to independently manage their lives.

“This is absolutely their life, this is their right. I’m sitting at home,” Velikaya told the agency.

At the end of 2023, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs put Russian fencers and spouses Sergei and Violetta Bida on the wanted list. This year they left for the USA. Before leaving, Sergei Bida was listed in the Russian Guard and Dynamo, and Violetta Bida was on the list of military personnel of the Russian Ministry of Defense in CSKA.

Sergei Bida’s mother statedthat her son wanted to resign from the Russian Guard, but he was denied this. State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein wrotethat the spouses deliberately fled Russia and a case was initiated against them under Art. 337 of the Criminal Code (unauthorized abandonment of a part). According to him, both fencers were active servicemen of the Russian Guard.

January 12, 2024 USA Today newspaper reportedthat Russian fencers Sergei Bida and Konstantin Lokhanov are planning to become US citizens in order to represent the country at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the United States Fencing Association (USFA) wrote letters of support for the Russians.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “Russian fencers strengthen the States”.

Erdni Kagaltynov