Following the news that McDonald's would pull out of Crimea, now de-facto a part of Russia, there's been a considerable amount of spite directed to the American fast food restaurant in Russia.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, has said Russia should close down all locations of the chain in the country, and apparently many Russians support him: According to a recent poll conducted by SuperJob's Research Center, 62 percent of respondents support the closure of all McDonald's in Russia. Last week, Russian media reported that anti-McDonald's activists had appeared in several Russian cities. “Down with American Fast Food!” activists in Bryansk reportedly said.
It's a sad state of affairs for the burger chain, whose first restaurant in Russia opened in happier times more than two decades ago in Moscow. The apparent success of the "golden arches" in the country was taken by many as a barometer of Russian westernization.
The historic arrival of McDonald's in Russia had been a long time coming. After 14 years of negotiations, an agreement was reached in 1988, the same year that McDonald's opened a restaurant in Belgrade, its first in the Communist world. "The McDonald's golden arches will be appearing on the Moscow horizon," George Cohon, a McDonald's official, said at the time. "A Big Mac will taste the same in Moscow as it does in New York, Tokyo, Toronto or Rio."
Moscow, back then referred to as the "slow food" capital of the world by The Post's David Remnick, apparently couldn't wait for the fast food. To meet a demand they were describing as "infinite," McDonald's announced plans for their biggest restaurant yet. The restaurant opened on Jan. 31, 1990, on Moscow's Pushkin Square, advertised with the slogan "If you can't go to America, come to McDonald's in Moscow." There were reports of huge lines, despite the five ruble cost of a meal (at the time, around half a days wages for an average Soviet worker).
