"Is it fine for the WTA that such a person stays on tour": Svitolina slams Gasonova for pro-Russian comments and hatred towards Ukraine

Elina Svitolina has slammed Russia's Anastasia Gasanova who posted Russian propaganda on her social media after the war in Ukraine broke out.

Svitolina was part of a virtual meeting with the WTA after which she noted the example of Russian player Gasanova who posted Russia's propaganda on social media without any consequences. She was allowed to play on the Tour all this time and was in action this week too. In the comment, Svitolina said:

"We have a very vivid example of how after months of murdering, looting, raping, kidnapping Ukrainians and seizing our territory Anastasia Gasanova still decided to promote all of this on her Instagram page by repeating Russia's propaganda narratives about the war to justify the decision behind the invasion and all these crimes Russia commit on Ukrainian people."

She continued:

"My questions were, is this even normal, is it fine for the WTA that such a person stays on the tour? Is it fair towards the Ukrainian women and all other participants of the tour? In response, we heard the same answer as for Lesia's and Marta's questions... silence. No arguments. No explanation."

She further stated that she and her compatriots won't let this go:

"We will not leave this issue behind, because it is logically connected with the safety issue of Ukrainian women. If the Russians and Belarusians on the tour support or justify military aggression in the same way as Gasanova, it means that they wish Ukrainians, our relatives, our friends and ultimately us to be dead. Is it the norm for the 21st century to stay in the same environment with such people? We are waiting for answers from WTA."