Blast Premiere Events banned the participation of Russian CS:GO teams, qualifying tournaments in the CIS were canceled due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict

Blast Premier, the CS:GO esports league in Copenhagen, has taken the decision to ban Russian teams from participating in their tournaments for the foreseeable future. Along with this, Blast Premier is also canceling the upcoming CIS Regional Qualifier, meaning that players from the CIS region will not be able to participate in any tournaments for the foreseeable future.

The decision was made in the light of current world events in Ukraine with the participation of Russia. Popular esports team NAVI also recently released a statement explaining the severing of ties with some esports organizations. These included ESFORCE Holding, RuHub, Epic Esports Events, Cybersport.ru and Virtus.pro. NAVI explains that this was a direct result of ESFORCE Holding publicly denying the events that are unfolding in Ukraine at the moment.

Blast Premier canceled regional qualifiers for the CIS and banned Russian teams from participating in the tournament

Reaction to Blast Premier’s decision was mixed, with many fans on Twitter demanding more explanation. However, most fans seem to understand why Blast Premier had to make this decision.

Several other major organizations had to decide on the presence of Russian and Belarusian players in their tournaments, including Chess.com. Chess.com has decided to speak out publicly in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, but also clarified that it will not ban Russian or Belarusian players from participating in their tournaments on the site.

Instead, Chess.com will not display the flags of Russia and Belarus in broadcasts and coverage of official events. While the overall reaction from the community has been mixed, most fans can support the decision, judging by the comments section of their Twitter post.

While Blast Premier appears to be under fire on social media, it’s probably best for the organization to make its position public.