What begins to cause curiosity white painted signs on Russian tanks and trucks has now come to symbolize Vladimir Putin’s own version of World War Z.
Now the letter “Z” has become a new “swastika” or symbol of hatred and is showing up everywhere supporters of Russia’s uninvited invasion of Ukraine can be found.
Kamil Galeev, a member of Galina Starovoitova at the Woodrow Wilson Center, searched Twitter for examples of the creepy character’s use. “Z” is a letter that the Russian Army is putting on their vehicles departing to Ukraine. Some interpret ‘Z’ as ‘Za pobedy’ (meaning victory). Others – like ‘Zapad’ (West). Anyway, this symbol invented just a few days ago has become a symbol of Russia’s new ideology and national identity,” he wrote in a pre-invasion tweet. Now, Galeev believes the symbolism means Putin has unseated the world’s worst tyrants, including Benito Mussolini. “Simply put, it’s going to be total fascism,” he tweeted. “The authorities have launched a propaganda campaign to get people’s support for their invasion of Ukraine and they are getting a lot of it.”
Indeed, the symbol, which is likely not directly tied to Mussolini’s fascist emblem but also has the letter “Z,” rather than it relates to Brad Pitt’s 2013 film “World War Z,” which premiered at the United States Congress. Moscow film festival that year—although it could be argued that the Russian military isn’t too different from the zombie invasion on which the film is based.
But it’s definitely attracting a lot of people. Over the weekend Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak is seen wearing a “Z .”On the label while standing next to Kovtun Illia of Ukraine, who just won a gold medal in the Gymnastics World Cup event in Doha.
Severely ill Russian children at a cancer center in the city of Kazan are said to have lined up in a “Z” shape for a photo that has been widely circulated on social media. The badges of the Ukrainian soldiers killed were also take a photo line up in a “Z” formation and the letter shown on the flag, on vans, and in the convoy who are said to support Putin’s war.
There’s even a video about Russian spy Marina Butinawho pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiring to act as a foreign agent, draw one on lapel her jacket.
It is difficult to say whether the letter, which may have first been used to simply identify Russian military assets to distinguish them from Ukrainian machines, had any other implications. The letter “Z” does not exist in the Russian Cyrillic script, but it has now become the most prominent symbol for Russia’s senseless war.
