Russia's top female tennis player, comes out as lesbian,condemns country's attitude toward homosexuality

The French Open semifinalist's comments come as the Russian parliament talks about screwing up restrictions on public discussions about LGBTQ relationships.

In an interview on YouTube with Russian blogger Vitya Kravchenko, 25-year-old Kasatkina confirmed that she has a girlfriend.

Soon after the interview was released, Kasatkina posted a picture on Instagram of her embracing Olympic silver medalist figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, 27, with a heart emoji and called Zabiiako 'my cutie pie' in a Twitter post. 

Estonian-born Zabiiako, who won her Olympic medal with the Russian team in 2018, posted the same picture on Instagram, also with a heart.