From the Russian gymnast who flaunts it on the podium to the nationalists who stick it with a sticker on cars or draw it on the walls: the “Z” has become the symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a sort of signature of those who want to express their support for President Vladimir Putin’s decision. A zeta drawn in white paint on Moscow trucks, armored vehicles and tanks had been noticed from the start of the operation, sometimes appearing inside a square.
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UPDATES FROM UKRAINE FROM FRANCESCA MANNOCCHI, MONICA PEROSINO. DIRECTED BY CHIARA BALDI, GIULIANO BALESTRERI, ROBERTO PAVANELLO
It could be a way to make the means identifiable with respect to Ukrainian ones of the same model and to avoid friendly fire, especially from above. However, many other hypotheses have circulated on the meaning of “Z”, which is not even a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. According to military experts, it could be useful for Russian soldiers to understand where a particular vehicle is headed (Zapad, west, the main director of the invasion, could imply). After all, even the Americans in Iraq painted stripes on their vehicles to distinguish the different battalions.
The great diffusion of the “Zeta”, however, now suggests a sort of sign of generalized use. It has been stated by the Russian Defense Ministry that it stands for “za pobedu”, “for victory”. Another version is that it alludes to the initial of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a bit like writing the name of the enemy on duty on the missiles destined for aerial bombardments, or the final phase of the liberation of the Donbass.
What is certain is that it is recognized by Russian nationalists to the point that the pro-Kremlin news site, Russia Today, sells t-shirts with the zeta. And gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who finished third in a World Cup competition in Qatar, had it printed on the shirt that he also wore during the awards ceremony, when he found himself next to the winner who was a Ukrainian, Kovtun Illia. Now he will be disqualified. On the occasion of the operation in Crimea, with the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula to the Black Sea, the ribbon of St. George (black and orange), which commemorates the victory over Nazism, was the emblem of support for the president.
From the Maidan revolution onwards, Moscow has increasingly relied on the narrative according to which Ukraine is a country in the hands of the Nazis; the reference is to ultra-right fringes that to date have no place in the government even though the infamous neo-Nazi-inspired Azov Battalion has committed documented crimes in Donbass.