Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2022 League of Legends Continental League Spring Split has officially been canceled. As a result, the Commonwealth of Independent States will not be sending a regional representative to the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational. The decision was announced by LCL 2022 tournament organizer GIG.ME and made in conjunction with Riot Games Russia. 

The following teams competed in the 2022 LCL Spring Split: One Breath Gaming, Team Spirit, Black Star Gaming, Unicorns of Love, CrowCrowd, Dragon Army, CTRL PLAY, and Vega Squadron. The Spring Split kicked off on February 12 but only maintained its schedule through February 20 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine postponed competition. 

GIG.ME's official announcement translated to English reads as follows:

"After discussions with the licensee, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the League of Legends Continental League Spring Split. In these difficult times for the region, we find it impossible to continue the league. Unfortunately, as a consequence of this decision, the CIS will miss the Mid-season Invitational this year. As soon as the opportunity arises, we will immediately share information about the format of the summer split of the CIS Continental League."

The LCL Spring Split is not the only esports event to be impacted by ongoing international conflict. The VALORANT Championship Tour EMEA Challengers matches were also delayed amid Russian military action in Ukraine about a month ago.

Since CIS will not have a regional representative at MSI 2022, it will mark the third year in a row that at least one team has not been able to attend the Mid-Season Invitational. Due to COVID-19 complications, the Vietnam Championship Series has not sent a representative to the last two years of MSI and the World Championship, and in 2020, MSI was cancelled altogether. Whether Vietnam will be able to send a representative to MSI 2022 has yet to be confirmed.