Russia’s Daria Kasatkina receives national honour despite outrage when coming out as gay – Express

Kasatkina made waves in her home country when she came out as gay during a video with Russian blogger Vitya Kravchenko earlier this year. During the vlog – filmed in Barcelona, where she trains – the world No 11 shared her concerns over being LGBTQ+ in the country and also admitted that there may be better opportunities for young Russian tennis players if they change citizenship.

It led to outrage in her country, as State Duma deputy Roman Teryushkov and former Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Vitaly Milonov were among those criticising the 25-year-old, claiming she was committing a “crime against the state” by promoting the idea of switching nationality and suggesting she was only coming out to be “fashionable”.

But in an apparent U-turn, the country has decided to award the six-time title winner with one of its highest honours for her sporting achievements after the Russian Tennis Federation won the ‘women’s world cup of tennis’ last year. On Monday, the press service of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation announced that Kasatkina was among those to be awarded the title of Honoured Masters of Sports of Russia.

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