Lower Saxony and Bavaria are taking action against the "Z" symbol, the symbol used by the Russian army in the war against Ukraine.

Both federal states ordered that the public use of the symbol in Germany, for example during demonstrations, is punishable.

Up to three years imprisonment or a fine are possible.

In Russia, the Latin letter "Z" appears in many places in public space.

It is easy to recognize as a symbol because it does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Numerous Russian military vehicles also bear the "Z".

According to a statement by the Ministry of the Interior in Hanover, the "Z" is shown on buildings, cars or clothing to show support for Russia's war against Ukraine.

There have also been “corresponding observations” in Lower Saxony.

Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said that anyone who uses the "Z" symbol to publicly express approval of Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine must expect criminal consequences in Lower Saxony.

"It is absolutely incomprehensible to me how the stylized '' can be used even here to condone these crimes." use publicly" could be punishable because of the approval of criminal offenses.

“Do not condone crimes contrary to international law”

The basis for the actions of the federal states is paragraph 140 number two of the Criminal Code: According to this, behavior is punishable if it is to be understood as publicly flaunted approval of aggressive wars and is likely to disturb public peace.

Eisenreich also mentioned Paragraph 13 of the International Criminal Code, which deals with "crimes of aggression".

"We do not accept international crimes being condoned," said the minister.

The "Z" appeared a few weeks ago on Russian tanks advancing towards Ukraine.

The Russian military equipment was probably marked in this way so that the soldiers could distinguish it from Ukrainian ones.

Whether the Latin letter also has a meaning in Russian is not certain.

One theory says that it could be the first letter of the word "Zapad" ("West").

This could mean the direction of movement of the troops or that the tanks are from western parts of the country.

Some also see a nod to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose surname is transliterated with a "Z" in many languages.