Andrei Zorin, a professor and chair of Russian at the University of Oxford, told Fortune that it was “conspicuously” reminiscent of the Nazi swastika, a view supported by a slew of Twitter commentators. However, others suggest it has a more chilling allegorical meaning. Kelly compares it to the orange-and-black Saint George Ribbon, a Russian military symbol which now enjoys wide popularity in Russia as a patriotic symbol to show public support for the government.įor his part, Nikolay Mitrokhin, a fellow at German research institute Forschungsstelle Osteuropa, wrote in a note to Fortune that one source of the idea was the 2013 American action horror film World War Z. “It probably helps also that Z looks rather like a branding device on trainers or high-tops.”īut the Z symbol also bears some similarity to the symbolism used in World War II. “I suppose it indicates that for a section of the Russian population, the ‘military operation’ is functioning something like a football championship,” she told Fortune. symbols have been seen on Russian vehicles. Images of tanks, military trucks, and rocket launchers have a Z code. Online usernames have capitalized the letter to show support, and even children in hospice were reportedly lined up to form a Z shape. The mystery of the Z mark on all Russian combat vehicles is still unsolved. Defence experts believe it could be a way for Russian forces to distinguish their troops from Ukrainians. Since the Russian alphabet does not have the symbol ‘Z’, it has left netizens confused. Since its introduction as a military fixture, the letter Z can now be found anywhere, from T-shirts to car stickers. Amid the Ukraine crisis, several images of Russian tanks with ‘Z’ marked on them have been making the rounds on social media. And the most likely reason they would have put these kinds of symbols on is to indicate a different task force, a different echelon,” he told Task & Purpose.Īccording to the journal, there are unconfirmed rumors circulating on Russian social media that Russian vehicles with emblazoned Z’s are intended to advance toward the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, while other letters signify they might be headed elsewhere. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Z symbol means. The symbol was also spotted on an array of military. Finally, on many of Russias tanks, there is a white symbol which looks like the letter Z, sometimes with a white box around it. Several Russian military trucks with the symbol 'Z' written in white were seen parading near the border ahead of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.

candidate at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, notes the Z symbol is “different from what you normally see on Russian vehicles.” Most observers suggest the markings are identifying signals to fellow Russian troops in order to avoid being victimised by friendly fire. Rob Lee, who spent a year with a defense-focused think tank in Moscow and is now a Ph.D. But the usage of more than one letter has left some believing the letter signifies the end location or mission of the vehicle.

Russian tank force symbol