Natalia Poklonskaya has issued a harsh criticism of the pro-war Z symbol that has spread across Russia, the latest anti-war comments from the former Crimean prosecutor and onetime Russian lawmaker.The Latin letter first seen displayed on Russian military vehicles entering Poklonskayas country of birth has come to symbolize the publics support for Russian troops.
The Z has been prominently displayed on buildings, flash mobs organized at schools and universities, merchandise sold online and even on the Russian Easter cake known as kulich.This letter Z symbolizes tragedy and grief for both Russia and Ukraine, Poklonskaya, who had staunchly supported Moscows annexation of Crimea,said in an interview with a popular YouTube channel Tuesday.The comments sparked widespread criticism, including from Poklonskayas immediate boss at Russias state agency for international outreach, Rossotrudnichestvo, where she is deputy director after serving a tumultuous term in Russias lower house of parliament.Rossotrudnichestvo head Yevgeny Primakov on Wednesday said the letters Z and V are symbols of the very liberation of Ukraine from the obvious evil of terrorists and bandits.What I am saying is that it is dangerous to blindly worship any symbols history does not like that, Poklonskaya wrote in response to the criticism.Poklonskayas break with Russias official line that it is carrying out a special military operation tode-Nazify and demilitarize Ukraineis practically unheard of for a sitting official.Last week, she referred to Russias invasion of her native Ukraine as a catastrophe.People are dying, houses and entire cities are destroyed [leaving] millions of refugees.
Bodies and souls are mutilated.
My heart is bursting with pain.My two native countries are killing each other, thats not what I wanted and its not what I want, she said in a video address to an international forum.Earlier in April, Poklonskaya said Ukrainian society has changed in the eight years since the war with pro-Russian separatists broke out in the east and that Ukrainians would not greet Russia with flowers.Ukraine is not Russia, she told a popular YouTube blogger.Poklonskaya, 42, was a prosecutor in Ukraine until 2014, when she resigned and was appointed prosecutor general of annexed Crimea.
She was elected to the lower-house State Duma in 2016, but did not seek re-election in 2021.