Suddenly, the letter ‘Z’ is becoming a symbol of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine with many theories going around.
All over, this new symbol “Z” is flooding Russia. People walk past the symbol ‘Z’ painted on a bus stop in support of the Russian armed forces in Saint Petersburg and many are expressing, ‘It’s the new swastika’ as this letter Z has become Russia’s symbol of war and support for Russian’s invasion of Ukraine under President Vladimir Putin.
The letter Z was first spotted on Russian tanks and military trucks stationed near the Ukrainian border. But it wasn’t just the letter Z, there was also O, X, A, and V on the vehicles and military hardware.
Russia’s state-backed media organisation RT declared on its social media handles that it would sell T-shirts and hoodies with the letter Z to show support for Russian troops. Soon after this, flash mobs emerged across different parts of Russia wearing clothes with the letter Z on them.
These flash mobs are believed to have been organised by authorities as part of propaganda to display support for troops amid anti-war protests in Russia. Reports say that schools are getting children to stand in Z formations.
An image that has been shared online shows terminally ill children at a hospice in the southern city of Kazan doing the same.
In Russia, the governor of the Western Siberian region of Kuzbass, Sergei Tsivilyov, said he would change the name of his region and add the letter Z in the middle. Meanwhile, the letter was spray-painted on the door of Rita Flores, a member of the protest art group Pussy Riot.
Many on social media are comparing the Z with the swastika, the symbol of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Some Theories on the Letter Z
One theory claims that Z stands for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while V stands for Vladimir Putin. Curiously, neither the letter Z nor V exists in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet.
Another claim is that the letters have been marked on Russian tanks to avoid friendly fire and help Russian troops identify each other.
The Russian defense ministry has also posted stylized graphics of the letters Z and V on its Instagram page. However, no clear description of what the letters stand for has been provided. Some Instagram posts also have old Soviet Army images vis-à-vis modern-day Russian forces and the captions say ‘Heroes’ in Russian. Some claim Z could mean ‘Za pobedy’ (for victory) or ‘Zapad’ (West) while V may stand for ‘power of truth’.
The bottomline is , the letter Z seems to be becoming a totalitarian symbol combining support for troops and national identity in Russia working for Kremlin.
Russia was a nation devastated in the hands of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, but seems to be forgetting that brutal phase in their history, Russia appears right now to be inculcating that same spirit of “Nazism” under Putin with their “new Swastika.”
If if this true, it is chillingly unsettling, and the world could soon be walking into a nuclear World War III because the Russian foreign minister has already warned the world that Putin stated world their interference would have the worst consequences the world has ever seen and hinted on World World III and then openly stated World World III would be nuclear. Could this be why NATA is tiptoeing gingerly around Russia. Perhaps, at this time, it might be the wisest thing to do. Realpolitiks!
Updates on the War: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/07/world/ukraine-russia-war