Complicated background on Zagitova’s “See-through black dress on Telegram” post

Alina Zagitova won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. She is also known as an influencer with over 1.12 million followers on her Instagram account. She has many Japanese followers, and Japanese comments are frequently seen on her posts, which she herself often transmits in Japanese.

However, Zagitova’s frequency of updating her Instagram has dropped drastically recently. This is due to the “Instagram ban” by the Russian government. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia, which has been tightening its control over speech, has also tightened regulations on social networking services. Insta, which has 80 million users in Russia, was also subject to the ban.

In response, many Russian influencers, including Sagitova, moved to Telegram, a social networking service originating in Russia. For some reason, however, they were still able to update their Instagram accounts even after the ban, and Zagitova was also updating her Insta for a while, while trying to direct her followers to her Telegram account.

In the meantime, Zagitova revealed her black see-through outfit on Telegram. She made a peace sign and took a picture, which many fans may have mixed feelings about.

What kind of message will Zagitova send from the social networking site from Russia in the future? Under the circumstances, any words could be perceived as a political message. Still, her posts convey her earnest desire that she does not want her fans to forget her.

We can only hope that peace will come to her as soon as possible so that she can enjoy her daily life, including her Instagram, without thinking about anything else.