FNATIC Suspends Valorant Per BraveAF Over Comments From Ukraine

FNATIC’s Valorant roster is now a player shortly after the organization decided to suspend Andrey ‘BraveAF’ Gorchakov.

The decision comes after a period of public backlash against the Russian player after a series of private messages were posted on social media.

The news – written in Russian – shows a conversation about the current conflict in Ukraine.

On February 24, 2022 Vladimir Putin’s military launched a full-scale attack on the neighboring country and triggered a humanitarian crisis with millions fleeing the war.

FNATIC suspends Russian Valorant pro

FNATIC made the decision on March 30th to suspend BraveAF and conduct an investigation.

Their public statement reads: “We are aware of an ongoing situation involving one of our Valorant players, Andrey ‘BraveAF’ Gorchakov. Effective immediately, Gorchakov is suspended from playing professionally at Fnatic while we conduct an investigation.”

An update regarding BraveAF. pic.twitter.com/7OxrT7mJ2C

— FNATIC (@FNATIC) March 30, 2022

It continued, “We will have more updates on our Valorant roster in the coming days.”

The news can be seen in a post by yXo below.

The user said: “A player on your team supports the war in Ukraine. Denies civilian casualties. It seems he has no right to represent your organization in sport. Attention please.”

A player on your team supports the war in Ukraine.
Denies civilian casualties.
It seems he has no right to represent your organization in sport.
Attention please. @brave @FNATIC @PlayVALORANT pic.twitter.com/WSJ7i5PJ1E

— yXo (@yxo7) March 30, 2022

According to translations, the messages appear to show the pro player as supporting the conflict.

Translated writing from Twitter thread reads: “People in the West have achieved the collapse of the USSR. Now they want the collapse of the CIS and such. Putin will not allow that.”

He then proceeded to repeat lines from the Putin playbook, such as “Civilians will not be harmed.”

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported At least 902 civilians died in the war and over 1,400 were wounded.

BraveAF Responds to FNATIC Suspension

The player has since responded to the suspension on Twitter, claiming the comments were made on the day of the invasion.

He said: “On the current situation… these screenshots are from direct messages between me and a Ukrainian girl. We had a little chat before February 24th and I texted her on the morning of February 24th to see if she was ok.”

… Thoughts and first impressions, and by that point my knowledge was a farm to learn from, for I was nowhere near out of politics. You can clearly see in these pictures that I want this to end as soon as possible and I don’t want people to get hurt or killed…

— FNATIC brave (@braveaff) March 30, 2022

“At that point no one knew what was going on and I was just writing down my first thoughts and first impressions and by that point my knowledge was on the farm which I later learned from because I wasn’t out of politics at all “, he continued.

“You can clearly see in these pictures that I want this to end as soon as possible and that people don’t get hurt or killed.”

FNATIC has qualified for the VCT Masters in Iceland, which will be held next month. It’s unclear if BraveAF will be allowed to play as he may face visa issues.