Swimming bosses call for 'dignity and respect' after a Ukrainian-born athlete sparked anger by posing stood on a Russian flag

• Swimmer Viktoriya Güneş shared a picture of herself standing on a Russian flag on Instagram.
• The photograph prompted backlash from a number of Russian athletes.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has called for athletes to "behave with dignity and respect" after a Ukrainian-born swimmer received a fierce backlash from Russian athletes when she photographed herself standing on a Russian flag.

Viktoriya Güneş, was born in Poltava, a city in eastern Ukraine and competed for Ukraine as a junior, but now represents Turkey.

A photo, which she posted on her Instagram story, showed a Russian flag on the ground, with Güneş' feet covering a large portion of the red part of the flag. There was no caption on the image, which has now disappeared from the site, as is usual with temporary story posts.

The image prompted a fierce reaction from a number of Russian athletes.

According to SwimSwam, Russian swimmers Vladislav Grinev and Tatiana Belongoff both wrote on their Instagram stories: "Where are the boundaries of the permitted behavior of athletes?

"If you decide that it is humane to remove Russian athletes from participation in international competitions, then take action here as well."

Athletes from Russia and Belarus were banned by FINA from competing at any of its events following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Nationalism is UNACCEPTABLE in any form," continued the pair's matching statements.

Several other Russian swimmers, including Kliment Kolesnikov and Maxim Stupin, who race with Güneş on the Energy Standard team in the International Swimming League, also criticized her post.

Russian Sports Minister Dmitry Shvishev hit out Güneş' post, calling it "disgusting" and asking for her to be punished, according to Portuguese sports news site O Jogo.

In response to the backlash, FINA released a statement Monday encouraging athletes to behave respectfully.

"FINA is aware of the social media post attributed to Victoria Güneş, an aquatics athlete born in Ukraine who formerly competed for Ukraine," the statement, sent to Insider Tuesday, said.

"FINA encourages all aquatics athletes to behave with dignity and respect."

Russia President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine on February 24 based on unfounded claims that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russian-speaking people in its eastern Donbass region.

According to the United Nations, 1,035 civilians have been killed since the start of the conflict, while another 1,650 have been injured.