Modern Russian so-called “eSports” … Part 2

Russian so-called “cybersport” has turned into a military-oriented applied special information activity of the Putin regime, which poses a significant danger to Ukraine and other democratic countries of the world.

It should be noted that the Russian so-called “cybersport” from a private initiative in the last century has turned into a real state project of the Putin regime under the official name “computer sport”, which has clearly defined tasks, structure and funding. It is known that on June 7, 2016, this “computer sport” was included in the official sports of the Russian Federation. The main state organization for e-sports in the Russian Federation – “Federation of Computer Sports” (FCS, English RESF) of the Russian Federation received significant organizational, including financial, support of the top management of the Russian Federation, the dictator of the Russian Federation, Putin, pays personal attention to its development.

The attention of the leadership of the totalitarian Russian Federation to the activities of the Russian so-called “cybersport” and its governing body, FCS of the Russian Federation, is not charitable or sporting in nature, but has a purely applied, practical meaning for strengthening the personal power of Putin and his regime in the Russian Federation. The FCS of the Russian Federation has been given ambitious tasks to ensure the “correct ideological education” of Russian youth and their applied military-oriented specialized informational training to meet the needs of the special services and army military formations of the Russian Federation during the confrontation with Ukraine and the countries of the West. For the same purpose, the FCS of the Russian Federation deploys its illegal activities on the TOT of Ukraine.

The propagandist and military-oriented nature of the FCS of the Russian Federation’s activities is also evidenced by the predominantly military nature of the topic of “cyber competitions” in the Russian Federation, which at a subconscious level programs players for aggression and “ideologically correct” behavior. In particular, on May 25, 2022, the Russian Federation officially defined a new, war-oriented discipline, the so-called “computer sports” of the Russian Federation – “Tactical three-dimensional battle”, which combines programs with games of the “shooter” (shooting) genre, as well as various three-dimensional combat actions: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, Rainbow Six: Siege, Warface, Armored Warfare, Overwatch, (Russian) World of Tanks and War Thunder. To this should be added the militarized games of the Russian company Lesta Games World of Warships and the “mobile strategy” Warfair. Moreover, it is planned to transfer cyber competitions in the Russian Federation entirely to Russian games, which should educate Russian youth in the so-called “Russian patriotism” and “loyalty” to Putin’s regime.

It should be noted that the education of the youth of the Russian Federation by actual psychological pro-government zombification through the so-called Russian “cybersport” has taken on the features of a clearly out-of-bounds and absurd activity – there is even a so-called “Orthodox eSports”, which is probably in addition to the already existing so-called “Orthodox private military companies”. In particular, in the Krasnodar Territory, the first “Orthodox” eSports school in the Russian Federation with the “encouraging” name “Ascension (Voznesenie)” started operating.

It became known that starting on September 1, 2023, during the lessons of the school subject “Fundamentals of life safety” in secondary schools of the Russian Federation, on the personal initiative and desire of the Russian dictator Putin, schoolchildren will be taught to “design and pilot” UAVs, thus turning even children into potential future operators of UAVs in the criminal maniacal wars of the Russian dictator, something like the suicidal actions of the “Hitler Youth” teenagers during the decline of the so-called Fuhrer of the “Third Reich”. The First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Ruslan Tsalykov, said that the school program includes the study (Russian original): “species, purposes, tactical and technical characteristics and general arrangement, conducting reconnaissance of the area and methods of countermeasures against enemy UAVs”.

In order to implement Putin’s tasks, the FCS of the Russian Federation proposes the creation of “special military companies” for conscripts who are engaged in Russian “cybersports”, as the president of the FCS of the Russian Federation D. Smith (Dmitryі Smith) directly declares. According to his frank statement on 04/22/2023, the FC of the Russian Federation has developed a “package of proposals” regarding (Russian original): “We came up with the initiative not only of deferment for e-sportsmen, but also with the initiative of creating specialized divisions for e-sportsmen. Portraits are companies where people serve, but also continue to compete. And I was talking about the fact that all e-sportsmen have developed fine motor skills, most e-sportsmen are perfectly able to remotely control objects, and this is easily transformed into the control of modern unmanned equipment. That is, it is not only specialists in drones, but you can put a player in Dota, he will learn very easily and quickly”.

It is known that since 2018, the training of professional “cyber athletes” of the Russian Federation has been organized at the (Russian) “National State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Health named after Lesgaft”, which is known for the preparation of “specific”, including diversionary, “sports” personnel for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and special services of the Russian Federation. In addition, on January 13, 2022, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation published Order No. 938 of December 1, 2021 on the approval of the federal standard of sports training for the sport “computer sports”, according to which, the so-called Russian “cyber sportsmen” must pass standards of general and special training, including running, inclines and squats.

The personality of the president of the FCS of the Russian Federation D. Smith, who previously led a team of Russian “cyber sportsmen” with the characteristic name “Orky”, is an example of a typical cynical functionary of the Putin regime, who gained access to significant state resources under the guise of “sports management”, and his closeness to the implementation of Putin’s measures indicates his possible involvement in the activities of the special services of the Russian Federation. In addition, D. Smith reports on the cooperation of the FCS of the Russian Federation with the Russian company Neiry for the purpose of developing a high-tech helmet for controlling the game with the help of “thoughts”, which is usually, especially in the Russian Federation, a field of activity for persons with “access to secrets”.

In addition to activities within the framework of the FCS of the Russian Federation, including direct personal involvement in illegal activities on the Temporarily occupied territories (ТОТ) of Ukraine, making international contacts to counter sanctions and fulfilling Putin’s ideological and organizational “orders”, the president of the FCS of the Russian Federation D. Smith is also trying to initiate a split in the activities of the “Ukrainian eSports Federation”. In particular, he spreads cynical statements about “regret” regarding the boycott by e-sportsmen of Ukraine of events with the participation of official representatives of the Russian Federation, regarding their “problems”, and also by promoting relations with representatives of the Russian Federation allegedly “out of politics” he tries to “justify” the actions of individual citizens of Ukraine who continue team and other cooperation with the so-called by “cyber sportsmen” of the Russian Federation, which means also from the FCS of the Russian Federation under the control of the special services of the Russian Federation.

Considering the above, Ukraine does not exclude the possibility of recognizing the actions of the FCS of the Russian Federation and the involved officials from the management of the IESF as terrorist in nature, since they are involved in the legalization of the actions of the FCS of the Russian Federation, which, together with the state bodies of the Russian Federation, promotes destructive anti-Ukrainian propaganda, conducts training of military UAV operators , creates separate companies, so-called “e-sportsmen”, and also illegally opened its branches at the Ukrainian TOT.