Diana Davis, along with her ice dance partner Gleb Smolkin, have made the change in time for the 2023-2024 season, the Georgian Skating Federation announced.

Along with other Russian skaters, the pair were unable to compete in international competition last season due to restrictions placed on them by the International Skating Union (ISU) following the invasion of Ukraine.

"The dance duo Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin will join our team from the 2023/24 season. According to the rules of the International Skating Union, official international figure skating tournaments begin at the end of August with the Junior Grand Prix stages," a statement from the Georgian Skating Federation said.

Russia’s national figure skating team head coach Elena Chaikovskaya had announced earlier that the Executive Committee of the Russian Figure Skating Federation had approved the request of Georgian colleagues to transfer the dance duo.

She claimed that Davis and Smolkin, the son of well-known Russian actor Boris Smolkin, did not apply for the transition.

It had previously been reported that the Davis and Smolkin were considering switching to Israel. 

The 20-year-old Davis and 23-year-old Smolkin competed for the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, finishing 14th.

They had finished second in the Russian Championships that season but did not compete last year.

Davis was born in Las Vegas in the United States, but moved to Moscow with her mother when she was three.

She holds dual Russian-US citizenship.

Davis' mother is one of the most successful and controversial coaches in the sport.

Tutberidze has coached several Olympic gold medallists, including Beijing 2022 winner Anna Shcherbakova and Pyeongchang 2018 champion Alina Zagitova.

But it is Tutberidze’s relationship with Valieva which bought her most attention after International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach expressed concern for the teenage skater under Tutberidze at Beijing 2022 following news of her positive drugs test, exclusively revealed by insidethegames. 

"[Valieva] was received by her closest entourage with what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this, rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her," Bach said.

His comments were criticised by the official spokesman of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who later gave Tutberidze a state award.

Critics have claimed that Tutberidze’s tough regime lead to her skaters suffering from injuries and illness, and they are often burned out at a young age.

Davis is not coached by her mother and works with Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov.