Russia's first McDonald's opens 1990
Russia's first McDonald's on its opening day in 1990. Note the small Soviet flag until the McDonald's logo.Vitaly Armand/AFP via Getty Images
  • The McDonald's restaurants in Russia are not owned by Mcdonald's anymore.

  • Hundreds of people lined up to try the burgers at the first restaurant in Moscow.

  • McDonald's is synonymous with capitalism and symbolizes the demise of the soviet union.

The McDonald's restaurants in Russia have a new logo and menu.

People visit the new restaurant
REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

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The former McDonald's restaurant in the city's Pushkin Square is one of 15 stores opened by Vkusno & tochka.

A customer holds a dog while having a meal at the new restaurant
REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Alexander Govor, a Russian businessperson, bought Russia's McDonald's restaurants after the burger giant said that continued ownership was "no longer tenable" due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

McDonald's Russia closed rest
A closed McDonald's restaurant in Moscow, March 2022.Alexander Sayganov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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After announcing it would temporarily close its restaurants in the market, this happened just over two months later. Mcdonald's was the first major fast-food chain to leave Russia after the attack began.

Russia McDonald's restaurant
A McDonald's restaurant in Moscow with the Russian flag outside, March 2022.Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images

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McDonald's opened its first store in Russia in Moscow's Pushkin Square in 1990. Hundreds of people lined up to try it's food.

People seen lining up on the opening day of Russia's first McDonald's outlet, located in Moscow's Pushkin Square, on January 31, 1990.
People seen lining up on the opening day of Russia's first McDonald's outlet, located in Moscow's Pushkin Square, on January 31, 1990.Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press file photo

The Washington Post is the source of this information.

The opening of a Mcdonald's restaurant was seen as a sign of the demise of the Soviet Union.

Bush Gorba
Then-US President George Bush and Russian politician Mikhail Gorbachev, 1989.Chip Hires/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

If you can't go to America, come to McDonald's in Moscow.

The McDonald's sign.Associated Press

The Washington Post is the source of this information.

It was difficult to open the first Mcdonald's in Russia. George Cohon was the chairman of McDonald's Canada at the time.

George Cohon, the then-chairman of McDonald's Canada.Doug Griffin/Toronto Star via Getty Images

The Washington Post is the source of this information.

George Cohon wrote in his book "To Russia With Fries" that there was little understanding of what Mcdonald's did in the Soviet Union.

A street in Moscow, August 1990.Bertrand Laforet/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

CNN is one of the sources.

A customer at the Pushkin Square restaurant told The Washington Post that it would go downhill. We don't know how to run a restaurant

A McDonald's restaurant in Canada, January 1986.Reg Innell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

The Washington Post is the source of this information.

The people lined up outside at 4 a.m. The Washington Post reported that when the restaurant opened at 10 a.m. there was a 500 yard line of customers waiting to get in.

Vitaly Armand/AFP via Getty Images

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The military, TV crews, and costumed actors were all in the square.

Both: Vitaly Armand/AFP via Getty Images

The Washington Post is the source of this information.

It was the world's biggest McDonald's restaurant, with 900 seats, and it got 27,000 applications for 630 jobs. On its first day, around 30,000 people were served.

A Russian woman eats a hamburger at Russia's first McDonald's on its opening day, January 1990.Rudi Blaha/AP

The Washington Post is one of the sources.

McDonald's was popular in Russia because it was cheap.

People wait in line outside a McDonald's restaurant in Moscow, 1990.AP

The Washington Post is the source of this information.

McDonald's opened a new office in Russia.

A McDonald's restaurant in Moscow, May 1990.Bernard Bisson/Sygma via Getty Images

McDonald's had over 62,000 employees at the end of March.

A McDonald's restaurant in Sochi, February 2013.Jan Woitas/Picture Alliance via Getty Images

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McDonald's closed its Russian restaurants due to the country's invasion of Ukraine. After the announcement, Russians went to Mcdonald's to get their last Big Mac.

People visit a McDonald's in Moscow ahead of its stores closing in Russia.Konstantin Zavrazhin/Getty Images

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The chain had closed restaurants in the region in the past. McDonald's temporarily closed three locations in the peninsula after it was annexed by Russia.

A closed McDonald's in the Crimean capital Simferopol in April 2014.Yuriy Lashov/AFP via Getty Images

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McDonald's lost $127 million from closing its Russian and Ukrainian restaurants.

A closed McDonald's restaurant in Belaya Dacha, outside Moscow, on April 14, 2022.Konstantin Zavrazhin/Getty Images

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All McDonald's former Russian restaurants will be reopened by the end of the summer according to the CEO of the new chain.

REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

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