Russian Olympians greeted in Red Square

Russian Olympic athletes were greeted at Red Square after their return from the Games in Tokyo.

The rebranded team - known at the Tokyo Games as ROC, short for Russian Olympic Committee - easily beat its medal target by surpassing the haul of 56 from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

The team left Japan with 71.

That was despite having to compete without the national flag or anthem following a legal battle last year at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Accused by the World Anti-Doping Agency of running a state-backed doping program, Russia was later punished for tampering with data from a Moscow laboratory. Russia denies wrongdoing.

Some in Russia took the sanctions as an affront. Many of the country's critics in the sports world argued the punishment didn't go far enough, especially given athletes still competed in national colours.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted a video of herself pummeling a mannequin emblazoned with the word "Press" as she promoted an official hashtag for the rebranded team — #WeWillROCYou.

The new name has been good fodder for puns. An all-Russian final in tennis in mixed doubles became the "ROC n' Roll Final" on the team's social media.