NEW YORK — American fast-food giant McDonald's said Monday it will exit Russia in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, ending a more than three-decade run begun in the hopeful period near the end of the Cold War.
The chain is looking to sell"its entire portfolio of McDonald's restaurants in Russia to a local buyer." Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into pro-Western Ukraine on Feb 24, triggering unprecedented sanctions and sparking an exodus of foreign corporations including H&M, Starbucks and Ikea.
After the sale, the restaurants would no longer be able to use the McDonald's name, logo, branding or menu, though the company will retain its trademark in the country, it said. The company began discussing Russian business at the 1976 Olympics in Canada where McDonald's let Russian athletes use the"Big Mac Bus" in a sign of good will.
In the subsequent decades, McDonald's operations in Russia expanded far beyond Moscow as the company invested billions of dollars and grew its supply chain.