First the letter Z It had appeared on some Russian military vehicles on the border with Ukraine. There are many theories about this, including that the Z stands for “Za pobedu”, which means “For Victory” in Russian. In recent weeks, the same letter has become a symbol of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pointing to doors and walls of some characters’ homes deemed “uncomfortable.” According to Skytg24, gadgets like tshirts and sweatshirts with the same symbol have also been found on the market. All of this had caused a stir in the community, creating general chaos and free will for all. Another commonly used letter is the v.i.e. assuming that “Z” stood for Zapad (West) and “V” for Vostok (East).
It all depends on what is currently the most widely used social network in Russia, which works in a similar way to Facebook VKtonktenowadays people share their photos using the hashtag #BelayaPoVjaZka (“Benda bianca), where the letters “V and “Z of the Latin alphabet often replace the corresponding Cyrillic ones.
The white bands: what they mean
The basic symbol for surrender is generally a white handkerchief. However, in recent days, as Repubblica reports, it has been worn by state employees, teachers, librarians and Russian officials “to show solidarity with those peaceful Ukrainians who have suffered or died under indiscriminate shelling by Ukrainian forces and nationalist battalions”. their social profile. A clear reference to what happened in Bucha. In fact, according to the Russian government, the civilian casualties are allegedly “staged by Kyiv.”
Also white are the ribbons used to tie the hands of Ukrainians found dead in the streets of Bucha, the city east of Kyiv, as we have already written. This episode splits public opinion in two. According to the Moscow version, it was actually the Ukrainians themselves who killed their compatriots for treason, comments the correspondent of the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Aleksandr Kots, on what happened: “The white ribbons are Russian identification marks”, but “Civilians also wore them in centers controlled by the Russian army” so that in all likelihood they “were shot by Ukrainian territorial defense battalions”.
Kyiv categorically denies this version, which, on the contrary, suspects the Russian flash mob as a forced gesture, especially since minors take part in it. “They’re just kids, they’re just being used. It’s a nightmare,” commented some civilians.
Most worrying is the combination of these symbols with Nazi symbols, for example, the white band on the forearm recalls the symbolism of the Hitler Reich years, or the letter Z, which looks very much like a half swastika, or as Vitalij Portnikov defines it. , a “stylized halfswastika”, called by others “Zvastica“.