NAVI, Ukraine’s esports powerhouse, will drop some Russian players, says CEO

Yevhen Zolotarov, CEO of the Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere, evacuated his hometown of Hostomel, just northwest of Kyiv, in the nick of time. On the first day of Russia’s invasion, Zolotarov’s infant son was awakened by explosions and a local military airport was seized by Russian forces.

The next day, with his neighborhood just barely in the rearview mirror, electricity was cut off in the area. Zolotarov isn’t sure he’d have gotten past the electronic garage door without power. His family would have been trapped.

“I don’t even know if my house still exists,” he said two weeks ago.

Some employees of NAVI, as the club is known, have spread across Europe. Some members of the financial and legal departments moved to Cyprus to keep the organization running. Others stayed in Ukraine, including some employees in the besieged capital, Kyiv. NAVI’s tone on social media also shifted. On Twitter, the organization shared posts raising money — including for bulletproof vests — photos and videos of the chaos across the country, and statements updating fans on the club’s work.

The Washington Post spoke with Zolotarov about his organization's position regarding Russian esports athletes, working in wartime, and the disorienting feeling of watching Russian propaganda on TV.

The interview was edited for clarity.

A: A little difficult because we are unable to forecast anything. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. However, you need to work. It’s not about just NAVI, but it’s about your thoughts. It helps if you’re not only thinking about war or kids who are dying.

Right now, we can say we’re back on track. However, we are unable to do our job, media-wise, because we can’t do memes, we can’t do promotions. We’re trying to use our media to help our country, mostly to inform our fans — including Russian fans — about what’s happening. To crowdfund. To help child clinics, etc. So I won’t say that we are 100% doing esports-related work.

Every NAVI employee is doing something connected to this war, and we are OK with it. Our main goal right now is not to lose anyone, to keep on paying employees — even if we do have a couple who are in the army. We will keep paying them because they are protecting our homeland, and us, as well.

A: We are not going to work with people who live in Russia and who pay taxes to the Russian Federation. We have a lot of Russians who have played for NAVI for years, and they understand that everything that is happening on Russian TV is [nonsense]. They understand that because they spend a lot of time in Ukraine. They [go through] boot camp here. They know us.

I am a Russian speaking Ukrainian. I never used Ukrainian, even if I’m in Lviv.. Nobody cares. We didn’t have any nationalistic leaders. In our election, nationalists got up to 2% — up to 2%! Our president is a Russian-speaking Jew.

Obviously, our players understand that. If you’re Russian, it is super difficult to even have a post right now to express your thoughts or the attitude to this war. I mean, you can be put in prison! So, we are ready to help relocate players who don’t share the Russian Federation’s politics.

A: There are not many Russian gamers who support the war or propaganda because they are modern people. They use the internet. They play on the same servers with Ukrainians for their whole life. In esports, it’s not about propaganda. I do understand that a huge part of the nation in general supports the war, but that’s just because they’re watching TV.

I don’t see anyone from the gaming industry who is actively supporting the war.I just see a lot of silent people.

A: All of our major rosters will remain the same. We will definitely disband a couple smaller disciplines, mostly mobile. We do have some issues with “Dota 2,” but it’s not about the political thoughts of our players or their nationalities. It’s more about Valve [the game’s publisher] deciding not to do the second season for the CIS region because of the war.

A: I’ll give you an example. We have NAVI Junior, which is basically a “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” academy roster. One of our players, he spent like a week in his basement with his family. He is 17, so he was able to leave the country and we managed to transfer him to Europe, and he’s able to practice again. It’s so surreal for all of us. We’re normal people. We’re Europeans — at least we think we are European people. We don’t think about territory. We don’t have any imperial ambitions.

We couldn’t understand what was happening for the first week or so. Of course, in a month, you got used to it. You got used to those sirens, several times per day. We do have some employees who are still in Kyiv. They sleep in shelters. They spend their days normally in their flats, but then go to shelter to sleep. Every night, for a month.

A: Yes, I was. I was following politics. But when I became NAVI’s CEO, [Russia’s annexation of] Crimea happened. So, honestly speaking, I had to conform. It was easier not to talk about it when you’re running a club that has a lot of fans from Russia. So, I would say, I was upset with what I’d seen on Russian TV since 2005, when we [in Ukraine] had our first revolution, because I was a part of this revolution as a student. And I remember that the way [the Orange Revolution] was shown on the Russian TV was totally different from what I’d seen as a part of it.

A: We mentioned [a return to normal] because of our partners. Most of our partners are E.U. or U.S. based. So, financially, we’re doing fine. We lost only one partner and it was our own decision — a Russian bank, Tinkoff, that supported NAVI. The guys who work there are great guys and don’t support what is happening but we can’t work with Russian brands anymore.

We had talks with all of our partners, with all of our sponsors, to explain the situation. And after those talks, we feel quite comfortable because they are ok with it. They understand that some of our promotional posts may look strange, at least at the moment.

However, it’s our new reality. Some of our partners even offered us prepayments. They will do everything that’s needed to keep on cooperating with us. So I’m quite positive. We are able to keep our staff, we are able to keep our rosters, players, etc. The only thing that’s unknown right now is how long this war is going to take, and where it’s going to take all of us.