This is in a statement posted on his site than the ESL, one of the biggest organizers of esports tournaments on CS:GOannounces the implementation of the first actions intended to penalize Russia following the invasion of Ukraine which started a week ago. The tournament organizer declares himself “shocked and saddened by this Russian invasion of Ukraine and hope for a quick and peaceful resolution”. The ESL therefore intends to provide support to those suffering from this tragedy. through donations to UNHCR, paid leave for their employees who decide to embark on humanitarian actions.
BLAST had already announced this week banning access to its competitions to Russian teams and on the ESL side, we follow the same example except for a few details. Here, it will only be the organizations being directly or indirectly linked to the Russian government who will not be able to participate in ESL Pro League events, including individuals or organizations who have suffered European sanctions in connection with this conflict. According to the ESL, two organizations would be impacted by these new directives, Virtus.pro and Gambit.
However, the ESL does not find it fair that players from these organizations who are not complicit in this situation receive sanctions because “it’s not in the spirit of esports”. Virtus.pro and Gambit players will therefore be able to participate in these tournaments, only under a neutral name, without representing their organization, country or even sponsors.
Additionally, the ESL also stated that all the events that will take place in CIS will be put on hiatus but entrust that they can still be played in the future. “We will be monitoring and evaluating these future competitions and make new decisions depending on the progress of the situationannounces the organization.
This decision follows to the appeal for help from the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Ministerwhich asked all organizations and companies in the video game world to boycott Russia and withdraw from its market. Even before this statement, many organizations had already demonstrated their support for Ukrainians and some players like s1mplehad given money so that they could still help in any way they could.