In Cyrillic, the letter “Z” is
written “З”. But since
Vladimir Putin launched his latest invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, the
Latin form has proliferated inside Russia. Just days after the invasion, Maria
Butina, a Russian spy-turned-politician, filmed a video of herself drawing Z on
her coat. “Keep it up, brothers,” she declared. “We’re with you forever.”
Ivan Kuliak, a Russian gymnast,
plastered a Z on his uniform when he took the podium beside a Ukrainian
competitor at the Gymnastics World Cup in Qatar on March 5th, causing the
International Gymnastics Federation to start disciplinary proceedings against
him.
Why has the letter Z become
a symbol of support for Vladimir Putin’s war?
As Russian forces assembled
along Ukraine’s borders early this year, sharp-eyed observers noticed curious
characters painted on the side of Russian tanks. Among them were the letter V,
the letter Z inside a box, and a plain letter Z itself. The mysterious symbols
generated countless theories: perhaps Z was shorthand for “zapad”, which means
“west” in Russian (the direction Russian forces would be marching); maybe it
indicated the Kremlin’s desire to take out Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Military analysts think that the letters correspond to particular parts of the
Russian forces involved in the invasion. With more than 100 battalion tactical groups of
between 600 and 1,000 troops from as far away as the Russian Far East operating
in Ukraine, such markings may help to distinguish between them and their enemies
on the battlefield.
Since the fighting began,
Russia’s state propaganda machine has turned the Z into the operation’s
unofficial logo.
Russia’s defense ministry
has suggested that it stands for “za”, the Russian word for “for”, as in “for
victory”. RT, a Russian propaganda network, began selling T-shirts emblazoned
with the letter. Vladimir Solovyov, a state television host, has it plastered
on his laptop in his latest videos. Nationalist activists in Moscow organized a
caravan of cars with Zs painted on them to circle the city. A children’s
hospice in Kazan, a city in western Russia, lined patients up in a Z formation
for a photograph. Expressing his support for Mr Putin, the director of the
charity that runs the hospice, Vladimir Vavilov, told a local news agency that
the “fascist” force in Ukraine, as Mr Putin has labeled the country’s
democratically elected leadership, “can only be stopped with force, there is no
other way, no mercy!”
There is a particular irony
to making a Latin letter the symbol of a war that Mr Putin has justified in
part by bogus claims that the Russian language was under threat in Ukraine. The
Z has never been associated with Mr Putin’s regime before, and has none of the
long-cultivated symbolism of other notorious icons, such as the Nazi swastika,
to which Ukraine’s defense minister has compared it.
Yet the Z has already
become a frightening symbol. Opposition figures and others who have spoken out
against the war inside Russia say they have found the letter scrawled on their
apartments; agents from Russia’s security services left a Z inside the office
of Memorial, a storied human-rights group, following a raid of the premises.
Russian officials have adopted it to demonstrate allegiance to their leader.
More than anything, Z is
now for Putin.
From The Economist (edited)
You can also watch the video by clicking on the Play Button
