McDonald’s in Moscow’s Pushkin Square has reopened its doors after a three month closure.
The fast-food outlet came under scrutiny from Russia’s consumer-safety regulators, and six others remain closed.
Many claim the dispute has its origins in the geopolitical tensions as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.
Svetlana Polyakova is director of public relations in Russia:
“McDonald’s continues to work normally, we have 461 restaurants. And by the way we keep opening new places. This year we have opened around 45 restaurants, and by the end of the year we plan to open about 25 more. And next year we will keep the same growth rate.”
So far McDonald’s has undergone 250 inspections in Russia this year.
Muscovites just want a place to go:“I study here, so its good to have a place to have a coffee. When it closed for three months we had to go somewhere else, which wasn’t as comfortable.”
The Pushkin Square branch was the first McDonalds to open in Russia in 1990.