Ukrainian cyber sportsman S1mple got into a scandal because of a Russian player: what did he do

Share: Oleksandr Kostylev (S1mple), a well-known Ukrainian eSports player who plays Counter-Strike 2, faced a barrage of criticism when he welcomed the transfer of Russian Denis Sharipov (electroNic) to his team. Earlier, he stated that he would not play in a team where there were Russians. Kostylev will play together with Sharipov for the European team BC. Game. This became known from a post on the official page of BC Game Esports on the X network, published on October 18.

"Welcome to BC Game Esports, @electronicCSGO (nickname of the Russian Sharipov on the X network — ed. )," the post reads. S1mple shared the post from the BC. Game page on his page, adding his own greeting for the Russian player. In a short comment, he called Sharipov a "friend. " "It's time to shine, friend," Oleksandr wrote. Kostylev's post caused a violent reaction among users.

In particular, Oleksandr S1mple's statement in 2024 that he would never join the Cloud9 team due to the fact that there are four players from Russia caused outrage. Oleksandr was reminded of his previous statements in the comments to the post. "I want to remind you about the interview for Players. Quote: "I would never switch to Cloud9 when there are 4 Russian players there". What has changed?", one of the users wrote. To this S1mple replied that he "can answer his own question".

"It's time to show how much you love Russians. You can immediately remove the Ukrainian flag from your profile," said another commenter. Another user added that when "Putin goes to Europe," S1mple is "playing with the Russians. " "It's probably impossible to invent a worse scandal," noted one of the commentators.

It is worth noting that the Russian Denis Sharipov, after the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, spoke out against the conflict, as reported by Russian mass media. He also refused to perform under the Russian flag. Sharipov used to play for the Natus Vincere team. In 2023, he moved to Cloud9, and in 2024 he became a Virtus. pro player. It will be recalled that in May, the American eSports organization FaZe announced that Oleksandr S1mple had joined their team.