Image via Ubisoft/@kirill_vision
According to an announcement from Ubisoft, the RML is suspended, and Russian players will play under a neutral banner due to complications from the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“In light of the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine, all official competitions on our games portfolio in Russia, such as the Russian Major League on Rainbow Six Siege, are suspended,” The official Rainbow Six Esports Twitter account said in an announcement. “Russian players will still be able to compete in our regional and international competitions if they choose to, but will be required to compete under a neutral banner, and have accepted to do so.”
The decision comes in the wake of a similar decision from ESL regarding Counter-Strike. Rosters will still be allowed to participate in the competitions, but will not be allowed to utilize their teams’ branding.
The rest of the world has placed several restrictions on commerce in Russia. Particularly, banking in and out of Russia has become difficult as many banks have shut down ways of communicating information about deposits. Without many traditional ways to pay teams for their participation, and with ESL making their decision about Virtus.Pro and Gambit, this decision has felt inevitable for some time.
There is no hard date on the return of the EUL, according to the announcement.