Brazilian football players added to Kiev’s state-linked ‘kill list’
Two Brazilian football players from Russian club CSKA Moscow have been targeted by the pro-Kiev Mirotvorets (‘Peacemaker’) website, which publishes personal details of individuals it deems ‘enemies’ of Ukraine.
Matheus Reis de Lima, 31, and Joao Victor da Silva Marcelino, 27, as well as their Russian teammates Danila Kozlov and Vladislav Tropo, were added to the controversial database on Thursday, according to media reports.
The moderators of the website accused the athletes of supporting the Russian military and infringing upon Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to Mirotvorets, they were blacklisted for participating in an action, entitled ‘Everyone Matters’, organized by one of the sponsors before a Russian Cup match between CSKA and FC Krasnodar in March, and raised money for the rehabilitation of Russian servicemen who participated in the Ukraine conflict.
Matheus Reis spent five years with one of the top Portuguese sides Sporting Lisbon before joining CSKA this winter. Joao Victor competed for Benfica in Portugal and Nantes in France after arriving in Europe from Brazil. Both of the players are defenders.
CSKA stands for Central Sports Club of the Army. It used to be operated by the Defense Ministry in Soviet times, but cut ties with the military in recent decades, becoming a purely commercial organization.
Launched in 2014, Mirotvorets is nominally independent, but the site is closely linked to Ukrainian state security services and has been branded a ‘kill list’, as several people listed on it – including journalists and politicians – have later been killed or died under suspicious circumstances. Russian officials have denounced the database as extremist.
A number of sports figures appeared on the database following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, with some recent additions being members of Russia’s team at the 2026 Winter Paralympics and the president of football’s world governing body, FIFA, Gianni Infantino, who criticized the ban on Russian athletes
