In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Natus Vincere Yevhen Zolotarov stated that they’ll be dropping players living in Russia from their rosters.
The social media handles of Na’Vi have been pretty vocal about the ongoing war, and have asked fans to “stand against the war” if they want to make a change. They had also cut off cooperation with ESFORCE holding, the parent company that owns the Dota 2 Champions League, due to their “unacceptable” stance on the events happening in Ukraine.
In the interview, Zolotarov implied that they aren’t willing to work with players who refuse to relocate outside Russia or support the invasion of Ukraine.
The Na’Vi CEO also mentioned some issues surrounding Valve’s MOBA title, Dota 2, but those aren’t political in nature.
“It’s not about political positions, or the political thoughts of our players or their nationalities,” he said.“It’s more about Valve deciding not to do the second season for the CIS region because of the war. And the third major is going to happen in the United States.”
Zolotarov mentioned that they’ll be skipping the second season, while the third season might also remain questionable due to the Visa issues that may appear as a result of the war. Na’Vi’s future plans for Dota 2 still remain uncertain.
The CS:GO roster, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be having any issues. The current CS:GO lineup of Na’Vi include three Russians, namely Denis “electroNic” Sharipov, Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov, and Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy, all of whom are willing to relocate outside of Russia according to Zolotarov.