Escaped from the Russian army: it became known why Russia put the Olympic vice-champion on the wanted list

Sergey Bida, vice-champion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and his wife Violetta were put on Russia's wanted list for allegedly deserting the Russian army. The criminal case against the fencers was opened under the article for "unauthorized leaving of a unit or place of service".

This was reported by the propaganda news agency R-Sport. Sergey was an officer in the Russian National Guard because of his performances for Dynamo, and Violetta was an employee of the Ministry of Defense through CSKA. In June of this year, the athletes traveled to the United States, where they competed in the California Championships without the consent of the Russian Fencing Federation (RFF), and decided not to return to the aggressor country. Now they face up to 10 years in prison in Russia.

Olympic champion Pavel Kolobkov called the fencers traitors and also fantasized that Russia is a free country and that everywhere in the world they will now "ask for the detention" of athletes.

"I don't really understand what Bida was thinking - he was an adult, not a child, he understood that there would be a legitimate reaction, they took an oath. If you want to go somewhere, we are a free country. But he broke the law and must be held accountable. He is 30 years old, an adult, an Olympic medalist. And now any country in the world will ask for his detention and extradition," Kolobkov said.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, on November 29, famous Russian ice dancers Annabel Morozov and Igor Eremenko, who perform in ice dancing, suddenly left Russia. According to media reports, they came to their coach Angelika Krylova for a scheduled training session, but instead of training, they presented her with a bouquet, saying that they had a plane to the United States in three hours.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!