MOSCOW — On a wintry January day in 1990, the grand opening of the first McDonald’s restaurant in what was then the Soviet Union was hailed as an emblem of the thawing Cold War. A serpentine line wound through the capital’s Pushkin Square, a throng of thousands waiting patiently for a first taste of American fast food.
This week, the chill seemed to descend anew.
After McDonald’s announced a suspension of business at its 850 restaurants across Russia in response to the devastating war in Ukraine, Olga Ryazanova, a 53-year-old travel agent, was ruminating not only on the loss of a cozy, affordable eating spot, but also on Russia’s dramatically abrupt alienation from the outside world.
