An otherwise unremarkable (at least for the general public) weekend of DOTA 2 The action got a little more controversial on Saturday when Virtus.pro’s Ivan ‘Pure’ Moskalenko was caught allegedly drawing a symbol of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine across the in-game mini-map.
When Yahoo reported firstDuring an ESL One Stockholm Major qualifier, Pure was seen drawing the letter “Z” on the map. This letter, seen painted on Russian military hardware during the first Weeks after the attack, it has become a symbol of the Russian people’s support for the actions of their armed forces and President Vladimir Putin.
(If you want to know more about the mystery of the symbol and its explosion, The guard
You can see Pure draw the “Z” in the top left corner of the card in the video below, before he pauses and starts crossing it out. His teammates, who are painting in different colors, are also quickly seen trying to paint over the letter.
Her efforts were in vain; People quickly took notice and prompted Pure and Virtus.pro to issue a statement/apology which amounted to Pure claiming the symbol – drawn by a Russian on a Russian team playing against Opponents with two Ukrainian players– “happened by chance”.
The organizers of the qualifying tournament had none of it. A statement released the next day by Beyond The Summit said:
Outsiders disqualified from DPC EEU Tour 2 Regional Playoffs. Mind Games will receive a retrospective forfait award for their match earlier today.
Any future matches that Outsiders would have played are also forfeited.
Following this action, Virtus.pro itself released a statement, which spends most of its time contesting the severity of the punishment (“Valve has some history of taking disciplinary action, but disqualifies the entire team from a DPC tournament based on a tie a single-player mini-map sets a whole new precedent”), before finally adding that Pure has terminated his contract because he “caused a great deal of damage to our relationship with the global esports community”:
Immediately following the Pure incident during Game 1, we contacted Valve and the tournament organizer while we conducted our own investigation. Sergey Glamazda, CEO of Virtus.pro, personally spoke to the players between games to find out more about what happened. Pure declared himself public right after the game. BTS also reached out to other players on our team to hear their side of the story. We were told that the final decision rests with the publisher.
The severity of the punishment is appalling. Valve has some history of issuing disciplinary sanctions, but the disqualification of the entire team from a DPC tournament based on a mini-map draw by a single player sets a whole new precedent.
All actions have consequences, whether intentional or not. Virtus.pro has consistently spoken out against all instances of incitement to hatred in sport. The club is terminating Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko’s contract due to his demeaning actions, which resulted in disqualification from the tournament and greatly damaged our relationship with the global esports community.
Further changes in our roster will be announced separately.