About 150 players of the Russian Poker Tour are experiencing the critical situation that Ukraine is living at the moment. The news keep bringing every day new images of protests and riots, and the clashes between the protesters and the armed forces are escalating in both dimension and violence.
Director of the event, Oleg Udovenko declared that their concern is not only to guarantee the safeness and security of all tournament participants and staff members, but also to show their support to all Ukrainian society, hoping that the situation would be solved soon, for the best of the country and its people.
Asked about what is the organization plan, he said there is not much they can do other than waiting until the situation calms down a bit and then provide all possible help to the participants to return to their home countries. He declared that the club has shut their doors, so no one can come in, and no one is allowed to leave. Participants have taken the measure as something necessary and they are cooperating. Some of them even continue playing.
Udovenko declared that participants are starting to be really tired about the situation, but the security comes first, and they have got the recommendation of not letting anyone out.
According to the last news, at least 25 people have died, 9 of which would be policemen. UE is starting to show some moves and has called Ukraine government to stop the violence and find a peaceful solution to the clashes, if they don’t want any punishment. Barack Obama also made a call for peace to Ukrainian prime minister.
One UEFA Football game which was supposed to be played today in Kiev has been moved to Nicosia, in Cyprus, because the necessary security around the game couldn’t be guaranteed.
Some of the players now complain about the decision of bringing the tournament to Ukraine, because the political tension has been on for a while now. However, no one forced them to attend the event, so I don’t see any reason to complain.