New brand, same ingredients as McDonald’s reopens in Russia

McDonald’s restaurants are reopening in Russia today, but without the Golden Arches.

After the American fast-food giant pulled out this spring to protest against President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a Siberian oil mogul bought its 840 Russian stores.

Because almost all the ingredients came from inside the country, he said, the restaurants could keep on serving much of the same food.

The gambit might just work, underscoring the Russian economy’s surprising resilience in the face of one of the most intense barrages of sanctions ever meted out by the West. Some 3½ months into the war, it has become clear that the sanctions – and the torrent of Western companies voluntarily leaving Russia – have failed to completely dismantle the economy or spark a popular backlash against Mr Putin.

Russia spent much of Mr Putin’s 22 years in power integrating into the world economy. Unravelling business ties so large and so interwoven, it turns out, is not easy.