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Adebayo Fajinmi
American fast-food giant McDonald in a statement on Monday announced it will leave the Russian market and sell its business in the increasingly isolated country.
After the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, multinational companies have been forced to re-examine their ties with Russia
Earlier on Monday, French automaker Renault announced it had handed over its Russian assets to the government in Moscow, marking the first major nationalisation of the economic disentanglement.
Some of the companies that have stopped operations in Russia include British American Tobacco, Canada Goose, Exxon Mobil, PepsiCo, Starbucks amongst others.
McDonald’s in March closed all of its 850 restaurants in the country, where it says it employs 62,000 people.
But on Monday it went a step further, saying in a statement: “After more than 30 years of operations in the country, McDonald’s Corporation announced it will exit the Russian market and has initiated a process to sell its Russian business.
“The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald’s to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values.”
