Sergey Bida, Konstantin Lokhanov and Oleg Kynsh are all registered to compete at the event, which begins today in Phoenix.

In April, USA Fencing’s Board of Directors voted to allow Russian and Belarusian participation in its competitions providing they met certain criteria.

The first requirement was that there was no physical presence of Russian or Belarusian affiliation within the venue, including but not limited to uniforms, warm-ups, equipment bags or accessories.

Russian fencers then had to meet one of the following two criteria - either that they had not held an International Fencing Federation licence indicating Russian or Belarusian nationality within the previous three years, or that they had not competed in USA Fencing competitions in the previous year and had declared they did not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bida is an Olympic silver medallist, who was part of the Russian Olympic Committee team that won team épée silver at Tokyo 2020.

He moved to the US this year with his wife Violetta Khrapina Bida, an Olympic épée fencer, and the couple are based in California.

Lokhanov competed in men’s sabre at Tokyo 2020, moving to the US in 2022, and is based in San Diego.

Kynsh is now living in Texas.

In a statement issued in the build-up to the event, officially titled the National Championships & July Challenge (Summer Nationals) USA Fencing said: "USA Fencing continues to support Ukraine and its people as they defend themselves from the senseless aggression and violence from Russia and Belarus.

"At the same time, we understand that there are fencers who may be Russian or Belarusian, reside in the United States, and contribute in positive ways to the USA Fencing community.

"As long as they have denounced the actions of Russia and Belarus and display no physical manifestation of Russian or Belarusian affiliation within the venue, these individuals are permitted to return to USA Fencing competitions."

In March, an International Fencing Federation Extraordinary Congress voted to approve for Russian and Belarusian fencers to compete in international competitions, with the US publicly declaring that they were against the proposal.

At the tournament in Phoenix, scheduled to run until July 9, fencers representing countries including China, France, Ukraine, Philippines, Canada, China, Japan and Italy are due to feature in non-championship events, such as at Division One level.