Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, many Internet users have wondered about the presence of a large “Z”, painted in white, on the armored vehicles of Vladimir Putin’s army. The presence is even more mysterious, as no official explanation has been given by the Russian authorities regarding the use of this symbol to mark part of its military equipment located in Ukraine, and since Z is not a Cyrillic letter.
A small convoy of the Russian army HS, the Russians seem to have mobilized BTR-80 to protect the convoy. It wasn’t enough. There are branches of the BTR-80, certainly for camouflage for protection from (rudimentary) drones. I see no impact. Panic? pic.twitter.com/gaxG5so1pq
– Restitutor Orientis (@RestitutorOrien) March 4, 2022
Everyone goes there by their hypothesis. Some first thought of Vladimir Zelensky’s Z – the Ukrainian president – or that of “West”, which means “West”, in Slavic. But for many observers and defense professionals, using this symbol would be primarily strategic and recognizable.
“It is crucial that any attacking force can be distinguished, especially from the air, where Russian forces have complete control today,” a military source told Britain’s The Sun. “Ukrainians have very similar tanks and vehicles, they want to reduce the risk of friendly fire,” said the same source.
The geographical purpose of the Russian units
US defense policy expert Rob Lee tweeted that Russian forces wore a “Z” to identify the various intervention groups. ” A plausible hypothesis, given that the letter is not the only symbol shown on the armor of the Russian army. In some regions, tanks fired by Vladimir Putin are marked “V” and “Os”.
“Often these symbols are based on location and show the geographical purpose of each unit. If they only serve to distinguish Russian vehicles from others, the use of a single symbol would be enough, “Michael Clark, former director of the British Defense Trust RUSI, told Sky. News. “They are like signs indicating the directions taken by the various combat units on earth,” he said.
Kremlin communication tool
But the various letters have also become a means of communication for the Kremlin. On March 2, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published military propaganda visualizations, accompanied by Russian slogans using the letters “Z”, “V” or “O”. On one of them, for example, we read the message “For Victory” in Russian.
[ 🇷🇺 RUSSIE | 🇺🇦 UKRAINE ]
🔸 New images published by the Russian Ministry of Defense, where the letter Z is present twice. We can read “Denazification” and “For Victory”. pic.twitter.com/kI88YzcqxA
– (Small) Think Tank (@L_ThinkTank) March 4, 2022
This Tuesday, to pick up Vladimir Putin’s revisionist speech – which reiterated on Thursday that Russia is fighting to “protect the Russian-speaking population of Donbass” against “neo-Nazis” and “bandits” of the Ukrainian government – two new previews were published on English by the Ministry of Defense. To them, the Z was worth the time for Denazification and Demilitarization.