Virtus Pro fires a player who drew Z on a Dota2 map during a cyber tournament

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.