Recently, the Ministry of Sport of Ukraine published a list of athletes who have not returned to the country after some competitions. Of the 236 athletes, seven are CS:GO players.
Seven CS:GO players have broken the wartime travel ban
According to Ukrainian law, all men between 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving the country since the start of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, there is an exception to this law for athletes; the Ministry of Sport authorizes travel for some international competitions. But each athlete granted this travel permission must return to Ukrainian soil once the competition ends.
A list of athletes who didn’t arrive home on time was released a few days ago by the Ukrainian Ministry of Sport. The list includes the names of seven professional CS:GO players.
List of CS:GO players who have not returned to Ukraine
- Aleksei “alex666” Yarmoshchuk – B8
- Denys “amster” Ljashenko – B8
- Mykhajlo “OWNER” Lymar – B8
- Arsenyj “cptkurtka023” Derevynskyj – B8
- Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletnjuk – Mt.
- Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev – Monte
- Serghij “DemQQ” Demchenko – Monte
In addition, the list of the seven players is joined by the general manager of the Monte team.
- Dmytro Vovk
All Ukrainian athletes had an excellent role in the last CS:GO Major, where one of the biggest surprises was the Monte team, who beat Natus Vincere and ranked in the top eight. On the other hand, B8 competed in the RMR European qualifiers; however, before qualifying for the main tournament, Cloud9 eliminated them.
Our journey on this Major has come to an end.
Thank you for your support! We tried our best to give you unforgettable emotions. We hope we have met your expectations.
A new page in the team's history awaits us next. It will be even more interesting.
See you very soon… pic.twitter.com/EW6q48vZF4
— MONTE ESPORTS 🇺🇦 (@Monte_Esports) May 19, 2023
Monte players apologize
After the list of athletes who have not returned to the country was made public, Monte’s players have publicly apologized. The team claims that the government would have permitted them until April 16 to compete in the RMR B qualifiers in Europe. However, the team broke the rules and opted not to return to the country, instead deciding to stay until the end of the Major on May 21. On that day, both DemQQ and Woro2k returned to their home country.
However, Sdy traveled to Poland to play online matches in the ESL Challenger League; he plans to return to Ukraine in a few days.
On the other hand, in Monte’s statement, they assure that they have always worked to help their country’s armed forces. Moreover, in each of their interviews, they talked about the situation the country is going through because of the war. They also glorified Ukraine when Monte qualified for the quarterfinals.
Finally, the Monte players apologized to their government for not meeting the established travel date and affirmed that they would arrive in the country as soon as possible.
It is important to note that Monte’s CEO has not been mentioned in the statement issued by the team. At the same time, the B8 players have not commented on the list of players to date.
At the moment, it is unknown what possible sanctions the athletes will face for non-compliance with the travel permit. But it is possible that the athletes mentioned in the list may face difficulties in applying for permits for future international competitions.