Fnatic suspend BraveAF due to statements in support of Russian invasion

Fnatic have suspended VALORANT player Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov from the team after screenshots leaked of his text messages that expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

An update regarding BraveAF. pic.twitter.com/7OxrT7mJ2C

— FNATIC (@FNATIC) March 30, 2022

Twitter user @yXo first leaked the messages in their original Russian before translating them into English. According to the thread, BraveAF was talking to a person from Ukraine, discussing the invasion.

According to the translations, BraveAF said he believes the west “achieved the fall of the USSR” and that he wishes Ukraine and Russia could be a single country. In the same text message thread, he admits he is not very “competent” regarding the issues and continues to relay information about the invasion from his perspective.

Please @PlayVALORANT @FNATIC @cArn @ValorantEsports pic.twitter.com/Wg6iuglkvE

— yXo (@yxo7) March 30, 2022

According to BraveAF himself, the screenshots are direct messages between him and a Ukrainian girl that date back to Feb. 24. He reiterated that these were his thoughts during the initial invasion. He stated he does not want people to get hurt or killed and is for peace.

About current situation… these screenshots are from direct messages of me and Ukrainian girl. We had a little chat before 24th of feb and I wrote her in the morning of 24th feb to know if she’s alright. By that time nobody knew what’s going on and I just wrote my initial…

— FNATIC braveaf (@braveaff) March 30, 2022

As part of the suspension, Fnatic are launching an investigation into the situation. While the team hasn’t specified, it is likely that Tom “Otom” Hart, their registered substitute, will take BraveAF’s place in the meantime.

BraveAF joined Fnatic’s VALORANT roster at the beginning of the year as a replacement for Domagoj “Doma” Fancev, who was transferred over to TENSTAR. With BraveAF on the team, Fnatic made a deep run in VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Challengers before losing to eventual winners, FunPlux Phoenix, in the winners bracket. G2 Esports then eliminated them in a 3-0 sweep.