Apparently finding some free time on his hands, Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the establishment of an annual Russian Online Games "Cyberchampionship", Kommersant reports. An exec from Russia-based Lesta Games—Gaukhar Aldiyarova—told the outlet that Putin instructed the championship's establishment during a recent visit to an exhibition of creative industries at Moscow's Zotov Centre.
The tournament will feature such domestic Russian icons as World of Tanks, World of Warships, World of Tanks Blitz, and other homegrown hits. Those wouldn't be the versions of the games controlled by Wargaming, but rather the ones run by Lesta, to which Wargaming transferred the entirety of its Russian and Belarusian gaming business after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Wargaming would not be involved at all.
