(CNN)In late February, days before Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, videos and photos began circulating on social media showing tanks, communications trucks and rocket launchers adorned with the letter “Z” rolling toward the border.
Digital detectives speculated what the “Z”, written in the Roman alphabet rather than Cyrillic, might indicate about Moscow’s next moves.
Military experts interpreted the “Z” as “Za pobedy”, Russian for “for victory”, or as “Zapad”, for “West”. Some named vehicles painted with the “Zorro Squad” symbol, while others suggested the “Z” could stand for the Kremlin’s self-proclaimed “number one target.” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Aric Toler, a researcher at Bellingcat, an open-source investigative operation that has been monitoring Russian military operations since Moscow instigated a war in eastern Ukraine eight years ago, said on February 20 that the group had no idea what the “Z ‘ symbol means and had never seen it used before. “So assuming the worst, I think/fear,” he wrote on Twitter.
Russian defense policy expert Rob Lee, who has tracked the “Z” vehicles since troops massed on Ukraine’s doorstep, suggested the symbol could refer to military contingents allocated to combat in the country. “It appears that near the border, Russian forces paint markings, in this case ‘Z’, on vehicles to identify different task forces or squadrons,” says Lee, a PhD student in King’s College London’s Department of War Studies, tweeted on February 19th.
But in the days since Moscow ordered the bloody attack on Ukraine, what began as a mysterious military symbol has become a sign of popular support for the war in Russia and what analysts are calling the unfolding of a frightening new one describe the nationalist movement.
Russians have scrawled the “Z” on their cars, worn black hoodies with the symbol, and attached makeshift “Z” brooches to their lapels — a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his efforts to expand Moscow’s sphere of influence in the Popular support gaining influence by occupying parts of Ukraine.
“The authorities launched a propaganda campaign to garner popular support for their invasion of Ukraine, and they’re getting a lot from it,” said Kamil Galeev, an independent researcher and former fellow at the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan political think tank in Washington. DC , wrote in an extensive Twitter thread about the use of the “Z” symbol in propaganda videos and by Russians on social media.
“This symbol, invented just a few days ago, has become a symbol of the new Russian ideology and national identity,” Galeev added.
As the Kremlin tightens its scrutiny over any news of Russian casualties or kickbacks making their way back home — enforcing an extraordinary new law that makes disseminating “fake” information a criminal offense punishable by jail time — Putin’s supporters are stepping up their support for the war.
At a hospice in Kazan, a city in Russia’s southwestern Tatarstan region, children dying of cancer were asked to line up outside in the snow in a “Z” formation to show their support for the Russian military operation.
“Our patients and the whole team took part, about 60 people in total. People lined up in the shape of the letter ‘Z’,” Vladimir Vavilov, the chairman of a cancer charity that runs the hospice, said in a statement. “In our left hand we held leaflets with the flags of LPR, DPR, Russia and Tatarstan, and our right hand we clenched into fists.”
Vavilov was referring to the Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine that Putin recognized as independent states last month as part of a pretext to invade the country.
The “Z” symbol has also appeared among members of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma.
Maria Butina was convicted of attempting to infiltrate prominent conservative political circles as an unregistered foreign agent in the United States before and after the 2016 election. She now represents the Kirov region for the pro-Putin political party United Russia and has held posts supporting the war on her Telegram channel.
Butina went to the platform to share a clip of herself drawing a white “Z” on the lapel of her blazer and has updated her profile to a selfie in a black t-shirt with a white “Z” on it.
“Carry on brothers. We are with you. Forever,” she said in the video clip, clenching her fist.
Correspondents covering Russia’s state-owned news network Rossiya-24 from Ukraine wore the “Z” on flak jackets.
Recordings captured convoys of cars with white “Z” on the windows, honking horns and huge Russian flags shared over the weekend from the largest cities in Russia. At the World Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Russian athlete Ivan Kuliak wore the insignia on the winner’s podium as he stood alongside Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun, the gold medalist.
And in two cleverly produced propaganda videos circulating on social media, young Russians Wearing black T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts with the letter “Z” and the hashtag #СвоихНеБросаем or “we won’t give up on our own (boys),” they wave Russian flags and show their support for Putin’s war by chanting: ” For Russia, for the President. For Russia, for Putin!”
Add Comment