Russian electronic sports teams Virtus.pro and Gambit have been banned from the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 tournament, the biggest tournament of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, which will be held this year.
PGL organization’s announcement titled “About the participation of Russian organizations in the tournament”;
“Taking into account the ongoing war in Ukraine and this dire situation, we have decided that individuals and organizations linked to the Russian government will not be allowed to be represented at upcoming RMR matches and PGL Antwerp Major. For this reason, we will prohibit Virtus.pro and Gambit Esports from participating in RMR and the upcoming PGL Antwerp Major. However, at the moment we will allow players associated with Virtus.pro and Gambit Esport to play with neutral names and jerseys, because we know that the players are not accomplices in this case.”
Thus, PGL and Valve have officially banned Russian electronic sports organizations from CS:GO Major tournaments. Gambit is owned by MTS, one of the largest telecom networks in Russia, and one of its shareholders is Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov. Virtus.pro is run by Sogaz, the insurance company of the Russian government, which has been sanctioned by the European Union since the start of the war in Ukraine.
