Z on Ukraine colours ‘zwastika’
IT could be mistaken for a sign of parochial pride — a painted sheet of corrugated iron between Alexandra and Clyde that could represent either Otago’s colours or the Ukrainian flag.
Splashes of red on the blue and yellow roadside sign on State Highway 8 between Alexandra and the the turnoff to Airport Rd point to the latter and a show of support for an Eastern European nation at war.
The addition of a large ‘‘Z’’ in the past week indicates someone disagreed.
The Latinscript letter Z is a symbol painted on Russian military vehicles involved in the invasion of Ukraine.
Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan said the addition of the Z was confronting. He believed the sign had gone up after
Russia’s undeclared war on Ukraine started.
The Z had since been added and the link was clear as it would have made no sense before the invasion, he said.
Ukrainians approached by the Otago Daily Times were less diplomatic and shocked that Russian propaganda surrounding the conflict had travelled to Otago, more than 17,000km away from the conflict.
Kyivbased translator Oleksiy
Petrenko said the matter should not be allowed to let slide.
‘‘Try to find the ‘Zorro’ who painted this one,’’ he said.
‘‘Impunity starts with small stuff like this, and never ends. Don’t let it slide.’’
The letter Z does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet and its equivalent character resembles the numeral 3.
It is speculated that the Z helps task forces distinguish themselves from other forces, but it has subsequently become a militarist symbol used in Russian propaganda.
The symbol is used inside and outside Russia as a sign of support for the invasion but has been labelled a ‘‘zwastika’’or ‘‘zwaztika’’ — a reference to the Nazi swastika and has been banned in a number of countries, including Germany, Czechia (the Czech Republic) and Poland.