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Due to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Riot Games barred all teams from walking out with flags during the Valorant Masters Copenhagen tournament.
FunPlus Phoenix’s Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov took to his Twitter page to post a picture of himself covered in a Ukraine flag, discussing his experience at the Masters Copenhagen tournament. He stated that he was restricted from walking out with the flag, but was keen on reminding the whole world of the conflict in Ukraine. He shared that he wants people to remember what is going on and to be able to talk about it.
“It is not allowed to go out on stage with a flag at Masters,” ANGE1 said.
“But I can remind all of you here in Twitter that I’m from Ukraine. Country where hundreds of civilian people die every day, just because Russia wants to see us as their colony or destroyed.”
“All I want to ask is for people around the world do not forget about war, talk about it, remind your politicians that you care about us, pressure them to send us needed military help,” ANGE1 went on.
“Because there is only one line of defence between mordor and others and unfortunatly its Ukraine.”
Tyler “Foxie” Lowton from Excel Esports commented on ANGE1’s post, saying it was “sad” that the organizers would deprive him of walking out with his country’s flag because it was “political”.
ANGE1, however, clarified that it was not limited to just him as it was a general rule applicable to all participants.
Riot Games previously allowed multiple teams to walk out with flags from their home countries at previous events, most notably Masters Berlin last year. At Masters Berlin last year, both 100 Thieves and Team Envy were permitted to walk out with the US flag, and Paper Rex was permitted to walk out with a flag.
