The Russian Virtus Pro team was disqualified by the organizers of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Dota Tournament 2 in Eastern Europe, after its player Ivan Moskalenko, playing under the nickname Pure, drew the letter Z on the map – a symbol of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Moskalenko later recorded a video with an apology, but Virtus Pro decided to fire the player.
“The severity of the punishment is shocking. Valve has a certain history of imposing disciplinary measures, but disqualifying the whole team from a DPC tournament based on a drawing on a mini-map by a single player sets up a whole new precedent.
Any action has consequences, intentional or not. Virtus Pro has been consistently opposing any cases of inciting hatred in e-sports. The club terminates contract with Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko for his diminishing actions that led to disqualification from the tournament and caused great damage to our relationship with the worldwide e-sports society”, says the team statement.
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