Yesterday, the full list of participants for the RCL 2024: Advanced League was revealed, a championship organized by the government of the Russian Federation. Despite this fact, they managed to invite many top European teams to their tournament.
However, immediately after this, well-known Ukrainian analyst and commentator Alexander petr1k Petrik called on teams to withdraw from the tournament on his Twitter. Read below for the teams' reaction.
We think it's unnecessary to explain why participating in tournaments organized by the Russian government is unacceptable at this time. But why are we so sure that this is indeed the work of the Russian Federation? It's simple, the Russian esports federation's page has the corresponding announcement of the championship. Also, the LAN final of this league will take place in Moscow.
Let's start by looking at the initial list of teams that were invited to the championship:
It's noticeable that the tournament features both entirely Russian teams and European ones. And now it's time to talk about petr1k, who was the first on Twitter to draw attention to such a misunderstanding from European teams.
petr1k:
Important @playersua has gathered all available information about the RCL 2024 tournament, its organizer, contractor, and direct connection with the Russian government. Many wonderful organizations that supported Ukraine decided to participate in an event organized by the Russian government?
Team Reactions
After this Twitter post, the reaction from European teams was swift. The first to respond were the Finns from ENCE, who wrote the following:
As soon as we received information about the organizer, we ceased the participation of ENCE Academy in this event. We fully support Ukraine and do not endorse organizations associated with the Russian government.
Next were the Germans from BIG, who also expressed their position on this matter:
Thank you for notifying us about this, we were unaware of these connections when we accepted the invitation. Now we have declined to participate in the event.
After that, Astralis Talent mysteriously withdrew from the championship, however, they did so without any public fuss. Following them, the Polish team 9INE and MOUZ NXT also withdrew from the tournament. Notably, a Ukrainian player named Burmylov, who plays for the latter, immediately refused to participate in this event. And 9INE also released their statement on Twitter:
Despite the organizers' claims that they have nothing to do with the Russian government, we will refuse to participate in the tournament because we do not want to take part in tournaments supported or associated with the Russian government.
In summary, the teams that have withdrawn from the tournament so far are:
- Astralis Talent
- ENCE Academy
- Alliance
- BIG
- 9INE
- MOUZ NXT
For additional information and details, refer to the article on Players.com.ua, where our colleagues have investigated this case in detail.
Conclusion
Thus, RCL 2024: Advanced League becomes a classic example of how the Russian propaganda machine attempts to use esports for political purposes, causing concern and repulsion in the global esports community.
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