McDonalds recently closed seven more restaurants in Russia temporarily, following mass unscheduled inspections of the fast food chain's restaurants by Russian authorities. The fast food maker stated that the closures were only temporary, despite rumor mills predicting a long term closure.
McDonalds has been forced to relinquish more of its business in Russia after Russian authorities declared they would be conducting unscheduled sweeps of the fast food maker's premises for food safety. The Federal Consumer Protection Service, a state backed food safety watchdog, only announced the random sweeps after it had closed a couple of McDonalds outlets in Russia over health concerns.
The Russian authorities recently closed three McDonalds restaurants in Moscow, another in Starvropol and another outlet in Yekaterinburg. Later on, McDonald's confirmed that three more locations were revealed as having being closed by the Russian authorities. These were two outlets in Sochi and one in Serpukhov, Moscow. A day later, four more McDonald's outlets were closed.
The regulator claims the closures were made on sanitary reasons. However, the closures are being blamed on political Cold war style tensions which are straining relations between Moscow and Washington. The business operations of McDonald's are just collateral damage.
The United States and the European Union slapped Moscow with sanctions over its aggressive stand on Ukraine. In retaliation, Moscow has began an assault on the western operations by banning multiple western imports into the country.
The premier McDonald's outlet was opened in Moscow in 1990. It was the first and largest fast food outlet in the country at its time. Thousands of hungry citizens lined up to enjoy the famous hamburgers and fries combo.
Currently, McDonald's operates 440 restaurants in Russia. On average, one million people a day visit the restaurants. McDonald's considers the country one of its top seven markets outside the United States and Canada.
