After Russian TV presenter Marina Ermoshkina found out that a Dubai Chanel store would not sell an expensive bag to a Russian customer after asking her to sign papers stating that she would not wear the bag in Russia, she recorded a video of herself cutting her own Chanel bag in half. 

She then posted her video to Instagram.

Ermoshkina said in a phone call from Moscow that "this is Russophobia. This is the purest form of discrimination."

Her video, which was also broadcast on Russian television, was seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Victoria Bonya, a Russian social media influencer with 9.3 million Instagram followers, followed suit soon afterward and cut up a Chanel bag worth thousands of dollars, saying that "if Chanel house does not respect the clients, why do we have to respect Chanel house?"

In response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, many international companies have suspended operations in Russia.

However, Chanel has begun asking customers in its global stores to declare that they would not use the products they were buying in Russia, citing the European Union and Swiss sanctions prohibiting the "sale, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly, of luxury goods to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Russia or for use in Russia."

These sanctions apply to luxury goods whose value is over 300 euros per item, or $326.

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