Joe Harker
The McDonald's restaurants in Russia which shut down in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine are getting a rebranding.
When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on 24 February the global community responded by targeting Russia with punitive sanctions designed to harm the country's economy.
A large number of businesses also pulled out of Russia, not wanting to be seen having anything to do with a country launching an unprovoked invasion of a neighbour.
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Among those businesses which left Russia was McDonald's, with the fast food giant abandoning over 800 restaurants in the country and leaving them sat empty for months.
However, the Daily Mail reports that a number of the empty restaurants are being rebranded ahead of reopening after McDonald's sold a number of sites to a local licensee.
They report that McDonald's sold its Russian restaurants to Alexander Govor, a coal industrialist who became a franchisee of the hugely popular fast food outlet in 2015.
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Govor's deal with McDonald's started with 20 restaurants, but the Russian will now own every site in Russia that the fast food chain once operated out of.
The old McDonald's logos are being torn out and replaced with a new image that depicts a burger and fries on a green background.
A grand re-opening of the burger joints is due to be held on 12 June, a patriotic Russian holiday which marks the nation's declaration of sovereignty and intention to create a democratic state within the Soviet Union.
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As for the site of the launch, that will be held at what used to be McDonald's flagship site in Pushkin Square in Moscow.
That restaurant was the first McDonald's to open in Russia, launching in January 1990 while the Soviet Union was still just about going and paving the way for hundreds more sites over the decades.
The reopening will cover an initial 15 restaurants across Russia but since Govor now owns every former McDonald's it's possible he will attempt to roll out his redesigned brand across the country.
The Mail reports that he intends to reopen all McDonald's restaurants within the next two months and expand the brand to more than 1,000 individual sites.
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In 2021 the McDonald's restaurants in Russia and Ukraine had brought in revenues of around $2 billion, or 9 percent of its earnings.
McDonald's does have the right to buy back its restaurants within the next 15 years, though the fee Govor paid to acquire them has not been disclosed.
UNILAD has reached out to McDonald's for comment.
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