MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Russia can do without any of its fencers who decide to jump ship to the US national team, Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Stanislav Pozdnyakov told journalists on Friday.

"Yes, we did hear that they were promised to be treated with some sweet cookies," the ROC chief said. "The most important thing is that they don’t choke on them. This is not a loss for Russia."

USA Today reported earlier that Russia’s Olympic silver medalist in fencing Sergey Bida was seeking to become an American citizen and compete under the banner of Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in July-August in Paris.

Bida’s wife, Violetta, told the newspaper in response to a question about whether she and her husband were seeking to represent the American team at the upcoming Olympics: "We are ready."

The US daily reported that both Sergey and Violetta Bida arrived "last weekend at a cafe in northern California. Both of them wore USA Fencing apparel."

USA Today added that the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the USA Fencing Federation had filed official requests with the US Congress to expedite the naturalization process to grant US citizenship to Sergey and Violetta Bida, as well as to another Russian fencer, Konstantin Lokhanov.

Bida, 30, won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in the epee team competition. He was also ranked the world’s top fencer in 2020 in addition to winning three European championship titles in epee fencing. His wife, Violetta Bida (maiden name Khrapina), took silver at the 2019 World Fencing Championship in Budapest.

Konstantin Lokhanov, 25, is a four-time champion of the FIE World Junior Fencing Championships, namely in individual sabre competitions in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv (2017), Italy’s Verona (2018) as well as in team sabre competitions in France’s Bourges (2016) and in Plovdiv (2017).

On March 10, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international competitions under a neutral status and in line with recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.

The FIE followed the IOC’s recommendations and did not issue neutral status permits to Russian fencers representing top Russian sports franchises CSKA and Dinamo. Only five Russian athletes took part in the 2023 European Fencing Championship in June of last year.

Paris is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11, 2024.