Virtus.pro Removes YEKINDAR and Buster From Active CS:GO Roster

The long speculated changes associated with Virtus.pro seem to be taking place right after the PGL Antwerp Major 2022. The Russian esports organization has officially announced the moving of Timur "buster" Tulepov and Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis to its inactive CS:GO roster.

This move comes following multiple sanctions being placed by various tournament organizers like ESL, BLAST Premier, PGL, and more against certain organizations that have apparent links with the Russian government.

Due to this, players associated with Virtus.pro and Gambit Esports lineup were forced to compete under independent aliases, Outsiders and Players, respectively.

While Cloud9 had signed all the players under the Gambit Esports banner ahead of the Antwerp Major, uncertainty loomed about the future of the Virtus.Pro roster, which is now implementing key changes for the road ahead.

Russian esports organization Virtus.pro moves YEKINDAR and Buster to inactive CS:GO roster

This move certainly does not come as a surprise considering the recent of performances by the team under the 'Outsiders' monicker.

While YEKINDAR had been vocal about his uncertain future with Virtus.pro for quite some time now, buster's departure from the active roster alongside him was quite a surprising development.

Virtus.pro management reasoned buster's removal by stating, "He needs a new challenge, while we need fresh ideas about the game. This decision is going to be mutually beneficial and will allow both the player and the club to keep progressing and striving for success. We are incredibly grateful to Timur (buster) for his immense contribution to our victories."

The Russian esports organization has indicated its intention of announcing the new players who will be replacing the departing YEKINDAR and buster "soon."

Buster was one of the founding members of this VP roster which was put together about five years ago, while YEKINDAR has been around for two years having joined them in May 2020. He was reportedly under a lot of pressure since he was Latvian player playing for Virtus.Pro.

His unique situation has seemingly led to a tough decision being made, with VP stating that "Due to a number of reasons, some of which are related to the current international environment, YEKINDAR’s journey in the Virtus.pro CS:GO roster comes to an end. We are thankful for his time with the team and wish him luck in his future endeavors!"

For now, there is no information about who the two new players will be that would be replacing buster and YEKINDAR on the active roster, details about which would be released soon.

The current Outsiders (Virtus.pro) lineup is as follows,

• Dzhami “Jame” Ali

• Aleksey “Qikert” Golubev

• Evgeny “FL1T” Lebedev

• Dastan “dastan” Akbaev [Coach]