The Ukrainian CS:GO players on Monte and B8 reportedly can’t leave Ukraine to compete abroad anymore under the special rules in place for athletes.
Monte’s Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev, Serghij “DemQQ” Demchenko, and Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletnjuk, and all of the B8 players with the exception of Artem “r1nkle” Moroz were included on the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports’ list of violators after they didn’t return to Ukraine on time in May, thus breaking the country’s wartime travel policy amid the armed conflict with Russia, according to a report today by esports outlet Escore News.
Ukrainian nationals between 18 and 60 years old aren’t allowed to leave the country during a time of war outside of a few exceptions, such as sports or esports events, in Monte and B8’s case.
Related: Ukrainian Sports Ministry names multiple CS:GO players who broke wartime travel policy
It’s unclear how long Monte and B8’s Ukrainian players will not be allowed to leave the country. Additionally, Monte announced earlier today that sdy is sitting out of upcoming tournaments, but didn’t cite the reported suspension as the reason.
Monte has already reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports, according to Escore News, and argued that sdy, Woro2k, and DemQQ only didn’t return on time because they qualified for the BLAST Paris Major in April and had to attend the event in May.
Monte started the competition in the Challengers Stage and made it all the way to the quarterfinals despite being underdogs. They’re now a top-10 CS:GO team in the world, according to HLTV’s ranking.
On top of reportedly being no longer able to travel under the excuse of being athletes, the Ukrainian players of Monte and B8 have also been expelled from the Ukrainian national CS:GO team, which will try to qualify for the $100,000 IESF World Esports Championship in August.
