The Secret Of The “Z” Symbol On Russian Military Vehicles

On social media, activists share pictures of the Russian troop deployment on the Ukrainian border. Many tanks and trucks are emblazoned with a painted “Z” – experts are alarmed.

In the Cyrillic alphabet, the character “Z” does not exist. But on Russian tanks and trucks around Ukraine, the letter can be seen again and again, painted with white paint on side doors or rear plates, often in a white square. Now Western observers are puzzling over what the letter is all about.

“It looks like Russian troops near the border are marking their vehicles with a ‘Z’ to distinguish their combat units,” military expert Rob Lee wrote on Twitter.

The background could be that the Ukrainian army also still uses many Soviet-era vehicles. However, it is not certain.

“Z” on Russian army vehicles keeps analysts guessing
Analyst Aric Toler has collected possible interpretations of the symbol on Twitter, all of which seem pretty arbitrary – from “Zakharchenko,” as the self-proclaimed leader of the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic, to “Zayin,” the Phoenician word for sword. “I don’t know why so many people think they know what the ‘Z’ stands for,” Toler writes. “I don’t know myself, but if I had to say something, I’d say it’s a simple symbol to distinguish a fighting group. The mission of this group? Use your imagination.”

Analyst Ruslan Leviev expressed a similar opinion. The “Z” could be used to protect friendly vehicles from friendly fire, he writes on Twitter, adding. “But we see a lot of movement of vehicles every day and this ‘Z’ is very rare”. To this, in turn, Aric Toler writes: “Ruslan has been consistently dealing with these things for eight years and has not seen the ‘Z’ either. We should assume the worst”.

On Twitter, meanwhile, there are many videos and pictures of Russian troops with the “Z” marking. Here is a selection of the footage – not independently verified:

More Z-marked vehicles. This time moving through the village of Belyanka, Belgorod Oblast.
50.465925, 37.195805https://t.co/q4m2OPkrIC pic.twitter.com/x4RlgXTzWR

— Michael Sheldon (@Michael1Sheldon) February 19, 2022

Ukraine conflict: US government prepares sanctions
While the mystery surrounding the “Z” continues for now, the conflict over Ukraine continues to escalate. Russian President Vladimir Putin has convened the National Security Council for today, Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the situation in the conflict zone as “extremely tense,” adding, “We see no signs of easing so far.”

Over the weekend, there had been a massive increase in ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk. Government forces equipped by the West have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Ukrainian territories near the Russian border since 2014. The United Nations estimates that more than 14,000 people have already been killed in the conflict.

According to insiders, the U.S. government has prepared a first package of sanctions against Russia, targeting the banking sector. Among other things, it is planned to prohibit US money houses from processing transactions for large Russian banks.