Former League of Legends player Likkrit reportedly targeted with U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The Russian is said to support Vladimir Putin.
Photo via Riot Games

Former League of Legends professional player Kirill “Likkrit” Malofeyev, who made a name for himself in 2016 when he reached the quarterfinals of the World Championship with Albus NoX Luna, has been directly sanctioned by the U.S. government due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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A new list of people targeted by sanctions was revealed on April 20 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Since then, Russian-born Likkrit revealed on vk.com that he has left CrowCrowd, the organization of which he has been the owner since 2019, according to Leaguepedia.

The former League professional is said to be the son of Konstantin Malofeev, a businessman and an owner of the media group Tsargrad. Escorenews.com reported today that the individual has been “dedicated to Russian Orthodox Christianity and support of President Vladimir Putin.”

Likkrit had been a professional League player for a number of years. He became popular by surprising audiences at Worlds 2016, where his underdog team Albus NoX Luna advanced to the quarterfinals of the international tournament by overcoming squads including G2 Esports and Counter Logic Gaming in the group stage. In playoffs, the CIS representatives lost against Europe’s H2k-Gaming.

At the event, Likkrit showed good spirit after losing to G2 by doing a post-game speech where he explained that the European team played their best and deserve respect. Shortly after appearing at Worlds, the 26-year-old finished his career as a pro player. His last active role as a support was in CIS squad M19 in November 2017.

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Author
Mateusz Miter
Polish Staff Writer. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.