McDonald’s Corp said on Tuesday it would temporarily close all 847 of its restaurants in Russia including its iconic Pushkin Square location, increasing pressure on other global brands to pause operations in the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
McDonald’s Corp said on Tuesday it would temporarily close all 847 of its restaurants in Russia including its iconic Pushkin Square location, increasing pressure on other global brands to pause operations in the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The closure of the McDonald’s restaurants will also carry symbolic importance in Russia, where the first location to open, in central Moscow in 1990, became a symbol of flourishing American capitalism as the Soviet Union fell.
McDonald’s said it would continue to pay salaries to its 62,000 employees in Russia. Because of its large size and global reach, the chain is often copied by other brands if it takes a stance on an issue or makes a major operational change. “If they decide to do something, then probably others will follow,” said international franchise consultant William Edwards of companies’ conversations about whether to follow McDonald’s by closing locations in Russia on moral grounds.
