Sdy, Woro2k, and five others broke Ukraine’s wartime travel policy

The Ministry of Youth and Sports published a list of Ukrainian athletes who went abroad with permission from the department but did not return in time. Alongside many other popular sportsmen, the list also includes seven CS:GO players including Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev and Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletnjuk.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, all male nationals of that nation between the ages of 18 and 60 were forbidden from leaving the nation. The Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports permitted sports and esports athletes to travel overseas to compete in international events. Nevertheless, some of these athletes have disregarded their commitments with regard to the date of their return to Ukraine. Seven CS:GO players from the just finished BLAST Paris Major were among the 236 athletes who disobeyed national travel laws, along with a number of other prominent athletes across different sports.

CS:GO pros mentioned in the list 

• Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev (Monte)
• Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletnjuk (Monte)
• Serghij “DemQQ” Demchenko (Monte)
• long with Arsenyj “cptkurtka023” Derevynskyj (B8)
• Denys “amster” Ljashenko (B8)
• Aleksei “alex666” Yarmoshchuk (B8)
• Mykhajlo “OWNER” Lymar (B8) 

Monte’s perspective on the situation 

In a statement already made public, Monte explained that while the players had been given permission to travel until April 16 in order to prepare for the Paris Major RMR, they chose to break the regulations and stay overseas longer as a result of their fantastic performance at the competition. After a decent 3-2 showing in the Challenger Stage, the Ukrainian side crushed FURIA, Fnatic, and Natus Vincere to book their place in the playoffs. Even though they were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by eventual runner-up Gamer Legion, they were still able to finish in the 5th-8th place and take home $45,000 in prize money.  

DemQQ and Woro2k returned immediately after the Major on May 21 while Sdy traveled to Poland and participated in the online ESL Challenger League with plans to return “in a few days,” according to the statement. Together with the three Ukrainian Monte players, Dmytro Vovk, the organization’s CEO, is also named on the list, but he was not mentioned in the statement released by the organization. In addition to stressing their delight in representing Ukraine on a worldwide platform and their contributions to raising awareness of the current conflict, Monte apologized for not following the travel restrictions as soon as possible.

On the other hand, four members of the B8 squad are listed as they were also competing in the European Regional A qualifier, where Cloud9 eliminated them. The organization hasn’t released any official statement yet. Although it is not yet known what the penalty for violating the travel regulations will be, it is probable that it will make future overseas travel for the mentioned CS:GO pros much more difficult.

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