Ukraine’s foreign minister has called on countries to ban the use of the letter “Z” as a symbol of the Russian war on his country.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Dmytro Kuleba said the letter in some contexts “means Russian war crimes, bombed out cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians”.
I call on all states to criminalize the use of the ‘Z’ symbol as a way to publicly support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. ’Z’ means Russian war crimes, bombed out cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians. Public support of this barbarism must be forbidden.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 29, 2022
Russian troops in Ukraine have painted the letter Z on the side of vehicles and it has been adopted by some in Russia as a symbol of support for what the Kremlin describes as a “special military operation” in the neighbouring country.
A spokesman for the German Interior Ministry said on Monday that security services are aware the symbol is also being used at rallies in Germany.
He said the letter can under certain circumstances be considered a sign of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and could make people “criminally liable”.
Several German states have said they will open investigations into the use of the symbol.
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