half-swastika

plural half-swastikas

1. derogatoryThe Z letter used by Russian nationalists, usually to support Vladimir Putin or the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

   Often this half-swastika is painted orange and black like St. George Ribbon, which is a symbol of the Great Victory – and it is everything you need to know about the power of propaganda that’s been poured into Russian ears for more than a decade.

   2022 March 29, Boris Chaikin, “Z for Zombie: the power of Russia's propaganda machine”, in Vaine, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2024

   3 more examples

   In fact, Russians themselves do not want to see foreign companies in their country - they started the campaign "Zamestim" (meaning "we will replace", where the first cyrylic letter was deliberately replaced with a half-swastika russia uses as their war symbol).

   2022 June 9, Ilona Sologoub, “Those who stay: how companies justify their stay in russia”, in Ukrainska Pravda

   In particular, the Latin letter “Z” has come to stand more generally for Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, being referred to as the “Zvastika” or “half-swastika” for its resemblance to a pared down version of the symbol of Nazi Germany.

   2023 April 29, Alona Sonko, “Ukrainian government bans letters Z and V on car license plates, Interior Ministry clarifies rules”, in The New Voice of Ukraine

   I, of course, tried to explain a lot of things to the students: about the half-swastika, and about real goals, and about fascism as such, and it was nice that some of the students understood what they were talking about speech, but, as it turned out, there were also fighters for the purity of the ranks.

   2024 February 23, Eugene Nasyrov, Olga Orlova, “Special academic operation. How the FSB has been persecuting scientists who signed a letter against the war with Ukraine for two years in a row”, in T-Invariant

   Synonyms: zwastika