Similar videos have cropped up during previous Kremlin campaigns, the only difference being the addition of the T-shirts.Ĭritics on social media did not miss the opportunity to point out that Hitler mobilized thousands of black-shirted supporters, as well, and some manipulated the letter Z to make it resemble the Nazi swastika. The state-run RT television network also spread the symbol.Īnother video online showed what looked like a youth flash mob in a factory or meeting hall, wearing black T-shirts with a Z and dancing in formation amid a sea of Russian flags. “Do your work, brothers,” she said in an apparent reference to the Russian troops in Ukraine. Now a member of the State Duma, or Parliament, she posted a video of herself drawing a white Z on the lapel of her suit jacket. Maria Butina was deported from the United States in 2019 after being sent to prison for working as an unregistered agent for Russia. The fact that some of the usual suspects lined up added to the sense of government coordination. “There are always people receptive to this kind of message.” He noted that there was a small army of propagandists paid to spread the meme on social media to give it the false appearance of popularity. “This is definitely a state-induced meme,” said Vasily Gatov, a Russian-American media analyst based in Boston.
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