Pavel LevkovichCorrespondent SportAll materialsThe wave of suspensions has reached the most progressive sports. The entire esports world has taken up arms against Russian teams and organizations, forcing them to move from Russia, make statements, and abandon their own logos and uniforms. Sponsors did not stand aside and one by one leave the Russian teams. In addition, a large number of people and fans publicly demand the isolation of Russian cybersports players around the world. For example, a well-known Ukrainian commentator and multiple winner of international CS:GO tournaments, Arseniy Trinozhenko, managed to declare that «there is no esports in Russia and will never be.» His compatriot and other well-known eSports functionary Vitaly Volochay announced that his company had broken off relations with Russian partners, which hurt him. As a result, Volochay said that it would be nice to find new ones. In addition to breaking off relations with Russian companies, Vitaly actively rejoiced at the outflow of sponsors, broadcasts and contracts from Russia. Yaroslav Meshalkin, Director of Strategic Communications for one of the largest eSports holdings in Russia, reacted to this position of Volochai in his Telegram channel.
"Joy, in fact, because of his successful lie. That is, this person in all seriousness declares that our holding "finances the killings of civilians". And thanks to Vitaly's active mouth, this nonsense reaches esports clubs, tournament operators, and publishers. Those who believe in him, because they don’t even imagine that such a monstrous lie can be invented", said Meshalkin.
Tournament operators are ESL (Sweden), BLAST (Denmark) and WePlay! (Ukraine) — also break off relations with Russian partners, players and teams. But two of the largest teams from Russia, Virtus.Pro and Gambit, made it to the nearest qualifier for the largest CS:GO championship (Antwerp Major 2022). However, only in a neutral status. The teams were required to compete without their logos, names and uniforms. The official statement of the organizers indicated that they would disqualify teams associated with the Russian authorities and persons subject to EU sanctions.