Russian in-game leader Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov has confirmed to HLTV that he has decided not to return as a player, officially ending his career. He spent more than 10 years in Counter-Strike.
chopper first rose to prominence with Vega Squadron, who beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-2 on Cache in the ELEAGUE Major 2017 Main Qualifier. It was the first time the well-known NIP core missed a Major. The 29-year-old went on to play 40 notable LANs, 11 of them Majors.
After joining Spirit in 2019, he won nine trophies, including the Perfect World Shanghai Major, IEM Katowice 2024 and IEM Cologne 2025, along with several BLAST events and a PGL. He was an IGL of the Year finalist in 2024 and missed out on the award in 2025 by a single point.
After Spirit benched him at the end of 2025, chopper took on other projects as a streamer and community broadcaster. In his statement he thanked Vega Squadron, Team Spirit, Nikolay "Certus" for trusting him with the IGL role, Sergey "hally", and the fans. On Friday, Spirit also released a tribute video in his honor.
