Sergei and Violetta Bida face up to 10 years in prison.
Sergei Vida has won Olympic and World Championship silver and three European Championship golds. PDO
The Ministry of the Interior of Russia has announced a search for the medalists of the prestigious fencing competition Sergei and Violetta Bidan.
Sergei Bida, 30, is the team silver medalist in fencing from the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and his wife Violetta, 29, the World Championship runner-up in the same sport in 2019.
Russian of the Championat site according to the report, the couple took part in the US championships in the summer without Russia’s permission. They live in California.
As a punishment for “abandoning the place of service or troops”, swordsmen face up to ten years in prison.
Sergei Bida works as an officer of the Russian National Guard, and Violetta Bida is also a member of the army personnel.
Russian news agency Tass told in July that the head coach of the national fencing team Alexander Glazunov got fired because his athletes defected to the US.
of MatchTV according to Violetta Bida also received a shoe from her fencing club TsSKA.