By Ben Schott, March 31, 2022
President Vladimir Putin’s savage war on Ukraine found an unlikely graphical straw man in the shape of the letter Z, which was daubed on Russian tanks and trucks as they shattered Europe’s peace.
Despite various claims that the symbol was an initialism of Za pobedy [for victory], Zapad [west], Zhopa [ass] or even the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, it seems likely the letter is an arbitrary identifier to prevent friendly fire, not least because there’s no Z in Cyrillic.
Given that the Russian ministry of defence Instagram account only began dropping dank Z-themed memes on March 2, a week after the assault began, it instead looks like the Kremlin is rushing to retcon Z into a propaganda campaign as ill-prepared as its military logistics.
