Alexander Govor will have to create a new brand to replace the Golden Arches that came before him.
McDonald's agreed this week to sell its network of 850 restaurants to the former owner of a coal mine in Siberia.
The McDonald's restaurant on Moscow's Pushkin Square opened in 1990 and has been open ever since. The fact that Russian consumers could get a Big Mac and fries that were indistinguishable from the same order in Nebraska was seen as a minor miracle.
The fast-food chain was credited with sparking a revolution in Russia's service industry as capitalism took hold of the former Communist superpower. The McDonald's brand spread after the end of the Cold War and spawned a theory that countries that hosted McDonald's restaurants didn't go to war with each other.
McDonald's Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said in a letter to company employees that it is impossible to ignore the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
Govor made his fortune in mining as the co-owner of Yuzhkuzbassugol, one of Russia's biggest coking coal producers, which he acquired during the controversial privatizations in the early 1990s. Govor and his business partners were bought out by the group after two fatal explosions in 2007.
The Yaisky refinery in the Kemerovo region was built from scratch and started operations in the year 2013). The businessman became a McDonald's franchisee two years later.
The exit of McDonald's from Russia is the most visible sign of the exodus of foreign firms.
Govor will have to change the name and menu of the restaurants that employ 62,000 people. McDonald's announced in March that it would temporarily halt operations over the war.
His company did not respond to the request for comment.
After the deal was announced, Russia's Industry Ministry solicited proposals on its Telegram account for a new brand name and said it would send the most creative to the new owner. Rusburger, MacDon and Zburger are references to a symbol supporting the Russian invasion.
The founder of the rival Teremok fast-food chain said it was unrealistic to expect to reproduce McDonald's low-cost offering in Russia within a few years. There will be fast-food alternatives in Russia, but it's a question of whether there will be a place to eat at the same prices.
With assistance from Rosalind Mathieson.
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