This troubled silence--in Russia we don't talk about war or politics
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/03/this-troubled-silence-in-russia-we-dont-talk-about-war-or-politics/
Editors note: This essay is anonymous in order to protect the writer from potential reprisals.
Things are quiet here in St. Petersburg. Weirdly, horrendously, quiet. Like there isnt a war on at all.
The city is home to military and navy academies. Home to the massive state-owned energy corporation Gazprom, home to the Constitutional Court. Its the old imperial capital and Putins hometown. It is quite capable of patriotic jingoism. But things are quiet.
On February 24, Russian military forces began shelling Ukrainian cities. The following week, billboards appeared around the city with the letter Z and the phrase We do not forsake our own! This letter Z then began to appear on riot police helmets and Rosgvardia cars. Ive seen metro workers wear it tacked to their uniforms. Asked whether they are required to do so, some look up defiantly and say, Unfortunately, yes. I rarely, however, see this letter Z on private cars around town.
Why Z?
On February 24, when Russian armored vehicles rolled into Ukraine, they were marked with large white letters, either Z or V: marks to distinguish forces and avoid friendly fire. The most reasonable explanation for these markings is that Z stands for Zapad or West, V for Vostok, or the East, which signifies the two directions from which the vehicles entered Ukraine. But why were they written in the Latin alphabet? And why has the Z become the official symbol of this special military operation that may not legally be called a war? The Russian Ministry of Defense eschews easy answers. On March 2, it explained to its Instagram followers that Z signifies Za Pobedu! On March 15, the governor of St. Petersburg was formally briefed with this same explanation.
Official explanations are asinine. The symbols are empty, disconnected from any reasonable semantic content. But this irrationality is not without reason. The helmets of the riot cops beating Russian anti-war protesters bear the same senseless mark as that which adorns armored vehicles decimating Ukrainian cities and towns. The Russian state has marked this violence as two fronts of one war.
*snip*