In late January, Russian player Andrey "BraveAF" Gorchakov joined Fnatic to replace Domagoj "Doma" Fancev, who currently plays for TENTSTAR. However, a pair of screenshots and the problems with leaving the country may derail his career at Fnatic.
At this point, we all knew that BraveAF wouldn't be able to travel to VCT Masters in Reykjavík due to the inability to leave the country. This alone is a big downside for Fnatic, especially since it's tough to find any good Free Agent who could represent them worthily at one of the most important events in Valorant esports history. However, there is one more thing that may force the British organization to break its contract with BraveAF — his comments on the current situation in Ukraine.
BraveAF's Pro-Russia Messages
One of the more popular casters in Eastern Europe, Aleksei "yXo" Maletskyi, shared screenshots on his Twitter profile yesterday, showing a chat about the Russian invasion between BraveAF and his Ukrainian fan on Instagram. As far as the public knows, this chat took place on February 24, the exact day of the invasion.
Please @PlayVALORANT @FNATIC @cArn @ValorantEsports pic.twitter.com/Wg6iuglkvE
— yXo (@yxo7) March 30, 2022
It's clear that the Fnatic player clearly seems to downplay the situation the people of Ukraine are in, and the community was most outraged by the "Ukrainians need to give up" message. These screenshots were all over the esports world; even CSGO legend Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev commented on them:
srazu vidno mentalitet professionala - SDATSIa!
— Sasha (@s1mpleO) March 30, 2022
Fnatic's Reaction
Fnatic didn't wait for a second– the British organization almost immediately decided to suspend BraveAF from the Valorant roster.
An update regarding BraveAF. pic.twitter.com/7OxrT7mJ2C
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) March 30, 2022
And what is BraveAF's statement on it? Well, the kind of "I've been misunderstood" you all probably expected. When he wrote these messages, he was likely unaware of the consequences that could befall him, especially since the picture of the conflict is presented quite differently in Russia by the propaganda operating there.
One thing is for sure – Fnatic will be watching community's reactions to the whole situation and will probably not change the decision to suspend the Russian player, at least until the start of VCT Stage 2. Even if BraveAF regrets the entire incident, such a large organization cannot risk such PR flops.
And what do you all think? Feel free to share your opinions on our Discord and Instagram!