Modern Russian so-called “eSports” … Part 1

Modern Russian so-called “eSports” as a team or individual competition at the international level in video games involving professional “player-athletes”, did not suffer significant restrictions after the beginning of a large-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in 2022.

Unlike the classical ones, including a number of Olympic sports, the so-called Russian “cybersport” has not been subjected to large-scale international sanctions, since in computer games there is no one international organization that manages all organizational processes, some bans on them are introduced by individual tournaments or large companies sponsoring competitions solely to avoid reputational risks. The vast majority of Russian so-called “cybersportsmeniv” contemptuously ignored the request of Ukrainian athletes to express their disagreement with the criminal actions of the regime in the Russian Federation. It is known that the administrators of international cyber competitions on the Liquidpedia network resource gave the Russian Federation representatives a choice whether to speak under a neutral or Russian flag, only about a tenth of them changed their flag from Russian to neutral.

Some foreign campaigns, such as Riot Games, which developed the popular games League of Legends and Valorant, canceled cyber competitions in the Russian Federation in 2022 and banned Russian players from participating in tournaments even in a neutral status. The company Ubisoft, which is the developer of Rainbow Six Siege, also refused cyber competitions in the Russian Federation. Although the games and tournaments of these campaigns are popular, they are not as popular as the games and tournaments of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and Dota 2 of the US company Valve, which only slightly limited the activities of Russian participants.

The largest foreign sponsor of the activity, including Russian so-called “cyber sportsmen”, is the founder and owner of the most popular computer games DOTA 2 and CS:GO, the company Valve, which can influence the introduction of sanctions against players from the Russian Federation or those who act under the flag of the aggressor state of the Russian Federation.

Prestigious international eSports tournaments are organized with significant financial assistance from this company, including international esports competitions within the framework of the International Esports Federation (IESF). In order to avoid reputational risks, in 2022 Valve sold the rights to broadcast all the so-called tournaments. “Armenian and Kazakhstani” broadcast studios, which are sponsored by Russian bookmakers PARI, WinLine and BetBoom, with the vast majority of employees with Russian citizenship.

Some American cyber organizations continue to conduct transfers from the purchase and sale of the so-called “cybersportsmen” from the Russian Federation, and in the first half of 2023, the Russian teams 9 PANDAS, Team spirit and Betboom team received visas from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service for a period of three years to participate in the prestigious tournament The International, which will be held on the territory of the USA. It should be emphasized that all three Russian teams, whose representatives were granted US visas, are sponsored by Russian bookmakers.

In April 2022, the Russian team Virtus.pro was disqualified from an eSports tournament because its member Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko drew the letter “Z” on the game map, which is one of the symbols of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Later, the Virtus Pro team, which is related to the Russian holding company Mail.ru, in order to avoid sanctions, was sold to “Armenian investor” Aram Karamanukyan, as a result of which all sanctions restrictions were removed from it, and its representatives continued to compete in all international competitions precisely under the Russian flag. Another example of circumvention of sanctions is the activity of the “non-Russian” studios PARAGON and FISSURA, which received the rights to broadcast all major cyber tournaments, where the main sponsors are bookmakers from the Russian Federation.

A significant future event in eSports in 2024 is the international competition of eSports players in Saudi Arabia (English – 16th World Esports Championship), which is organized by the “International eSports Federation” IESF and which allows to raise the prestige of the representatives of the countries participating in this event.

These competitions will be held under the special leadership of Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud of Saudi Arabia (English – Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud), who was recently elected as the head of the “International eSports Federation”. As a result of the dubious and opaque manipulations of his predecessor, Vlad Marinescu, the so-called were previously officially admitted to these competitions. “cybersportsmen” from the Russian Federation, and with the right to perform under the national flag of the Russian Federation. It should be especially emphasized that the restoration of the status of the so-called “cybersportsmen” from the Russian Federation took place after the initial restriction of their rights in April 2022 as a result of the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Since the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine did not stop, but only increased, an even greater number of war crimes committed by the Putin regime against the citizens of Ukraine became known, including athletes, the motivation of the leadership of the “International Federation of eSports” to return Russians to cyber competitions with the official status of representatives of the Russian Federation has an immoral character and clearly traces of corruption.

The immoral decision of the leadership of the “International eSports Federation” caused protests by Ukrainian eSportsmen and the “Ukrainian eSports Federation” (UESF) and 13 more IESF member countries, including against the possible participation of representatives of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation at the national team level in international competitions in Saudi Arabia (16th World Esports Championship in 2024), and gained significant international resonance, which led to purely formal responses from representatives of the leadership of the “International Federation of eSports” regarding compliance with the alleged ” democratic principles” in making a dubious and immoral decision of the IESF regarding representatives of the Russian Federation.

It should be emphasized that the European Esports Federation (EEF) suspended Russia’s membership in this organization at the initiative of Ukraine and Sweden.

Thus, the so-called Russian “cybersportsmen” currently do not have significant sanction restrictions outside the EU, they officially represent the criminal aggressor country of the Russian Federation at the international level, thereby contributing to Russian propaganda, they move quite freely abroad, including in the USA, have the opportunity to receive significant funds in international tournaments with prize funds of tens of millions of US dollars and plan to participate in international eSports competitions in Saudi Arabia in 2024.