ESL Pro League bans organisations "with apparent ties to Russian government"

eurogamer.net:

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, major esports organiser ESL has announced individuals or organisations «with apparent ties to the Russian government» will be barred from competing in its Pro League events, and that it will be pausing all competitions scheduled to run in the Commonwealth of Independent States region until a later time.

«We are all shocked and saddened by the Russian invasion into Ukraine and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution», the ESL wrote in a statement shared on its website. «After monitoring the situation, we are now putting an initial set of actions in place.». These actions include «support [for] the people suffering from the current tragedy with donations to UNHCR, paid time off for employees to volunteer for humanitarian relief and paid time off for affected colleagues.»

The company also announced it had made the decision to prevent all organisations «with apparent ties to the Russian government, including individuals or organisations under alleged or confirmed EU sanctions related to the conflict» from competing in its Pro League. It says it believes two entities — Virtus.pro and Gambit — will be impacted by the new ruling.

However, ESL said it also recognised individual players «are not complicit with this situation, and we do not think it is in the spirit of esports to impose sanctions» on them. As such, it will be allowing Virtus.pro and Gambit players the opportunity to compete in its events, but only «under a neutral name, without representing their country, organisation or their teams' sponsors on their clothing or otherwise.»

It added it will be pausing all competitions scheduled to be held in the Commonwealth of Independent States region — which includes Azerbaijan,