The “Z” first drew attention several weeks ago when it was painted a couple feet high on the sides of military vehicles mustering along the Russian border with Ukraine. In Russia, the letter then began to pop up all over the place. There are Z stickers on the backs of cars and commercial vehicles, and one talk show pundit recently appeared wearing a T-shirt with a large white Z on it. Some corporate logos and newspaper names that contained a Z manipulated the letter to highlight it. An advertising campaign using billboards in large cities featured a large Z created out of a black-and-orange ribbon, the St. George ribbon, which is a symbol of the Russian military. It is not uncommon for vehicles dedicated to a military campaign to display a readily identifiable mark — US army vehicles that were used to repulse the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait were painted with a big white chevron, for example. To see it spread among civilians is another matter.
The campaign’s ubiquity led many to conclude that it was an orchestrated Kremlin effort to drum up support for the war. It came with a hashtag with echoes of past wars: “We don’t abandon our own.” (As in soldiers). Critics did not miss the opportunity to point out that Hitler mobilised supporters as well, and some manipulated the letter Z to make it resemble the Nazi swastika.
Oddly for a nationalist symbol, the Z being used is the version from the Latin alphabet. The Russian version, from the Cyrillic alphabet, is more rounded, like a 3. After weeks of speculation about what it meant, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that it came from the preposition “Za”, the first word in the Russian phrase “Za pobedu” (for victory). That explanation seemed to have provoked a sharp exchange Monday in UNSC, where Ukrainian envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya said the “Z” actually stood for “zveri,” which is Russian for beasts or animals. His Russian counterpart Vasily Nebenzya shot back that Russians had their own opinion of who the animals were.
The campaign’s ubiquity led many to conclude that it was an orchestrated Kremlin effort to drum up support for the war. It came with a hashtag with echoes of past wars: “We don’t abandon our own.” (As in soldiers). Critics did not miss the opportunity to point out that Hitler mobilised supporters as well, and some manipulated the letter Z to make it resemble the Nazi swastika.
Oddly for a nationalist symbol, the Z being used is the version from the Latin alphabet. The Russian version, from the Cyrillic alphabet, is more rounded, like a 3. After weeks of speculation about what it meant, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that it came from the preposition “Za”, the first word in the Russian phrase “Za pobedu” (for victory). That explanation seemed to have provoked a sharp exchange Monday in UNSC, where Ukrainian envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya said the “Z” actually stood for “zveri,” which is Russian for beasts or animals. His Russian counterpart Vasily Nebenzya shot back that Russians had their own opinion of who the animals were.
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