Daniil Medvedev & Karen Khachanov Forced to Remove Russian Flags From Instagram Bios - Source

Russian athletes have found themselves in hot water due to a slew of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Western countries on Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine. Russians have faced restrictions or complete bans in hockey, football, racing, basketball, volleyball, and many other sports.

Russian professional tennis players Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov were told to remove their national flag from their bios in Instagram by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), a source within the body revealed to Sputnik.

"Medvedev and Khachanov were forced to remove the Russian flag from their profiles under the threat of being banned from the tour," the source said.

On 1 March, the ATP and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) permitted Russian athletes to play in competitions, but only as stateless neutrals.

As more anti-Russians sanctions are announced, users noted that Medvedev and Khachanov removed Russian flag emojis from their Instagram bios. However, their Twitter accounts still have the emoji of the national flag in the description.

Neither of the sports professionals have commented on changes to their Instagram profiles.