Dota 2 player dropped from team after appearing to support Russian invasion of Ukraine...

midian182

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What just happened? A Russian DOTA 2 player got his team disqualified from a tournament and had his contract terminated after displaying what appeared to be support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine during a livestreamed match.

Dot Esports reports that the incident occurred during the Eastern Europe Dota Pro Circuit Regional Finals over the weekend. During Virtus.pro's (competing under the name Outsiders) semi-final match against Mind Games, one of the former's players, Ivan 'Pure' Moskalenko, used a mid-match pause to draw what looked like the letter 'Z' on the game's map. The letter has been used to show support for Russia's troops and their actions against its neighbor.

You can see in the video above how Moskalenko appears to realize what he's done and suddenly starts to draw over the letter. His teammates, drawing in other colors, also began covering up the image, suggesting they knew its implications.

Another factor in all this is that the team Virtus.pro was playing, Mind Games, has two Ukrainians in its squad.

Plenty of people noticed what Moskalenko did. The ensuing backlash led to the player issuing an explanation claiming it was an "accident," though he never apologized in his video.

"There was a long pause in the game, the guys and I were talking and drawing on the minimap. When we realized what exactly my drawing turned out to be, we tried to cover it up. I didn't mean to offend anyone, it all happened by accident. Peace to all," said Moskalenko.

But, like most viewers, Valve and tournament organizer Beyond The Summit were less than convinced by Moskalenko and kicked his team from the tournament. They also granted Mind Games, who lost the match, a forfeit win.

Virtus.pro released a statement following its investigation into the incident. The team called the punishment "shocking" and said "disqualifying the whole team from a DPC tournament based on a drawing on a minimap by single player sets up a whole new precedent." But it added that whether intentional or not, actions have consequences. Therefore, it has terminated Moskalenko's contract.

Virtus.Pro was disqualified from the Gamers Galaxy: Dota 2 Invitational Series in Dubai earlier this year over what it claims was the Russian organization's refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

Permalink to story.

 
Valve tries to be neutral on this matter because RU/UA are a big part of their platform but if they would ignore this it would put them into a very bad spotlight for sure.
 
So these kids can’t do this but EU nations paying Putin over a billion Euros a day for gas and oil since the war began is fine?

The hypocrisy of the west.
 
Excellent. Those orcs and their trolls have to be removed from international zone as long as Russia continue shelling civilians.
 
Silly boy taking the knee in a game

do silly things - win silly prizes

The only hypocrisy I've seen in events - is the superstars getting away with stuff - that would get the lessor players booted.
Fifa , Tennis

Still I remember something about Hong Kong - China was that dota-2 ?

You sign up to an event - generally follow the rules - don't like them - don't sign

most have a catch all clause - don't bring event/game into disrepute or whatever
 
Next headline: "America switches over to British spelling to avoid inadvertently showing support for Russia"

"Zorro movies dropped from streaming services for pro-Russia propaganda"

"New Logitech keyboard announced with missing Z key; in its place is a key for the Unicode symbol for the Ukranian flag"
 
TBH, I am not sure stupidity should automatically result in kick.
They might be pretty good Dota players, but they are still ... stupid teenagers with zero sense of context.
A forfeit win more is than warranted, but kicking them out right does not feel right.
 
Oh yes, choosing not freezing to death is almost the same as killing thousands of civilians and leveling whole cities.
They 'chose' to do away with nuclear energy while fattening Kremlin bank accounts. This is the same EU who gave the world Greta Thunberg.
 
Utterly and completely ridiculous. The apophenia seeing "woke" thought police see curated problems with everything they disagree with.
 
Funny about all this hate for Russia, a nation that has not lifted a finger against the US or the EU.

Demonization of the other side is the first step towards war. People should read about the WW1 anti-German propaganda. They claimed that Germans were bayoneting babies. And the gullible NPCs actually fell for it.

If you take time to look at the other side of the Ukrainian conflict, you'll discover that most of these allegations of Russian atrocities are fake. The Russian military is much like the US military. They have no time or tolerance for gratuitous or unprofessional atrocities. They heavily prosecute any soldiers who engage in such things.

Use your brain.
 
Funny about all this hate for Russia, a nation that has not lifted a finger against the US or the EU.

Demonization of the other side is the first step towards war. People should read about the WW1 anti-German propaganda. They claimed that Germans were bayoneting babies. And the gullible NPCs actually fell for it.

If you take time to look at the other side of the Ukrainian conflict, you'll discover that most of these allegations of Russian atrocities are fake. The Russian military is much like the US military. They have no time or tolerance for gratuitous or unprofessional atrocities. They heavily prosecute any soldiers who engage in such things.

Use your brain.
Whatever you say, Comrade.
 
Hopefully russian destroys ukraine, more truth about ukraine extreme nationalists, the nazis within the ukraine military and all the corruption will soon emerge, The US almost started nuclear war with russian when russian wanted to nukes in Cuba, but that is now what US wants to do with Ukraine against russian. Zelensky said he wants nukes. How would west feel is Putin started arming ISIS inside USA etc. This is what Biden is doing with ukraine against russia.
 
Hopefully russian destroys ukraine, more truth about ukraine extreme nationalists, the nazis within the ukraine military and all the corruption will soon emerge, The US almost started nuclear war with russian when russian wanted to nukes in Cuba, but that is now what US wants to do with Ukraine against russian. Zelensky said he wants nukes. How would west feel is Putin started arming ISIS inside USA etc. This is what Biden is doing with ukraine against russia.
Ukraine had nukes once upon a time.

 
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