Denmark's Culture Minister claims he was unaware of Russians playing at BLAST

Earlier this week, Denmark's Minister of Culture partook in an interview with Berlingske where he encouraged PGL and Royal Arena to ban Russian players from participating in the first Counter-Strike 2 Major.

"As long as Russia continues its illegal war on Ukraine, I don't think Russian athletes should be allowed to compete in international sports," Denmark's Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt, a member of the Moderaterne political party had said. "That of course includes E-sports."

He continued on to say, "Even though it is a Romanian tournament organizer, I want to encourage them to ban Russian participation. I also want to heavily encourage Royal Arena to be more critical when deciding what they want to host."

The comments sparked outrage in the Counter-Strike community with some pointing out the Minister's hypocrisy. In November, Mr. Engel-Schmidt addressed the BLAST Premier Fall Finals crowd in the Royal Arena ahead of the FaZe v. Cloud9 match. Cloud9 is a team comprised of four Russian-born players.

BLAST has received significant investment from the Danish government through the Export and Investment Fund (EIFO). The tournament organizer previously faced scrutiny from Danish politicians for its relationship with the United Arab Emirates.

The reaction only now from Denmark's Minister of Culture to comment on Russians participating in an international esports event that is being hosted by a tournament operator who has not received millions in Danish government investment was peculiar, given that the Minister was present at BLAST last November.

Dust2.dk asked Jakob Engel-Schmidt a number of questions relating to his comments, seeking clarification. The Minister responded with a brief statement, writing, "It is new to me that Russians were present at BLAST last year, but of course I am not part of the planning".

In response, Dust2.dk asked several questions to the Minister regarding the government's relationship with BLAST, why the Minister failed to comment on the arrival of Russians then, why criticism was only occurring now, and why has the Minister not made any comments in the previous year when Russian players continued to enter Denmark to participate in BLAST events.

Dust2.dk did not receive a response.