Russian deputy PM says no to ban on McDonald’s

Following speculation over the temporary closure of some McDonald’s outlets in Moscow, deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich has said in a statement that Russia does not plan to suspend the operations of the American fast-food giant in the country.

Russia’s federal service for surveillance on consumer rights protection and human well-being, Rospotrebnadzor, had temporarily shut down four McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow after an investigation revealed that the restaurants had breached sanitary laws.

It was being speculated that the Russian watchdog shut down the outlets as retaliation for the economic sanctions imposed by the West over Moscow’s stance on the Ukraine conflict.

However, Dvorkovich was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying: "We are not talking about it all … It has just happened that all the checks ended at the same time."

Some commentators, who saw the move as a political one, noted that Russia has previously banned food from countries that have fallen out of favour.

Russia has previously banned wine from Georgia and dairy products from Belarus after the two countries improved their relationships with the West. Recently, canned vegetables, fruit, fish, juice and certain brands of beer and vodka were banned from Ukraine.

Before this, Russia imposed a ban on beef, pork, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, cheese, milk and other dairy products from the US, Canada, the European Union, Norway and Australia, in a move many saw as a response to the sanctions imposed on the country over the crisis in Ukraine.

According to the 2013 annual report of McDonald’s, it operates about 440 restaurants in Russia and considers the country as one of its top seven markets outside the US and Canada.