Z (military symbol)
It is speculated that the Z helps distinguish task forces from one another and serves as an identifier to avoid friendly fire;[1][2] however, Russian officials have claimed various meanings for the symbol.
Military experts think the symbols are identifying marks used to reduce friendly fire, similar to the invasion stripes used in the Normandy landings during World War II.
[29] The latter theory was confirmed by Russian veteran Sergey Kuvykin, who indicated in an interview with Life that symbols including "a 'Z' in a square, a 'Z' in a circle, a 'Z' with a star or simply 'Z' on its own" have been used to tell teams apart.
[citation needed] Since mid-March 2022, the "Z" began to be used by the Russian government as a pro-war propaganda motif,[9][41][42] and has been appropriated by pro-Putin civilians as a symbol of support for Russia's invasion.
[54] On social media, propaganda videos have been shared depicting flash mobs consisting of pro-war youth activists wearing black shirts decorated with the "Z" symbol and shouting, "For Russia, for Putin!
[55][56] In a social media video, State Duma member Maria Butina drew a "Z" on her jacket to show support for the invasion and encouraged others to do so as well.
[61] In Venezuela, Chavista groups included the "Z" symbol in a mural in the Catia parish, in Caracas, depicting and supporting Vladimir Putin and late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
In Moldova, unknown vandals painted the symbols "Z" and "V" over crosses at the World War II Heroes' Cemetery of Chișinău [ro], on graves of soldiers of the Axis-aligned Romania which fought against the Soviet Union.
[25] Also on 7 March, Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov condemned the use of the "Z" symbol, noting its resemblance to the name of the Station Z gas chamber of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
"[76] On 25 March, Russian journalist Izabella Yevloyeva was charged under Russia's "false information" law after sharing a post on social media that described the "Z" symbol as being "synonymous with aggression, death, pain and shameless manipulation".
[105][106] In March 2022, Ocado launched a new sub-division called Zoom, which had a 'Z' logo that had to be changed, after social media users said it looked like the Russian symbol.
[109] In April 2022, Singaporean transportation company ComfortDelGro announced that they would remove the "Z" letter from its Zig Booking App in order to prevent "possible misunderstandings" with the Russian military symbol.
[110] In June 2022, Japanese low-cost airline Zipair Tokyo announced that the large letter "Z" on the tail of all its planes would be replaced with a green geometric pattern to avoid confusion with the Russian military symbol.
