Coca-Cola, McDonald's & Starbucks stop doing business in Russia

Created: 03/08/2022Updated: 03/08/2022 10:27 p.m

The fast food chain McDonald's is temporarily closing its 850 branches in Russia.

© Jan Woitas/Zentralbild/dpa

In the end, the pressure on the US beverage giant was too great - Coca-Cola is also suspending its business in Russia for the time being.

McDonald's had previously announced that it would close all 850 Russian branches for the time being.

Atlanta/Seattle/Washington - The US beverage giant Coca-Cola is also suspending its business in Russia because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.

The company announced this in Atlanta and expressed its sympathy to the people of Ukraine in view of the "tragic events".

The American coffee chain Starbucks wants to suspend all business activities in Russia for the time being.

© Gene J. Puskar/AP/dpa

The fast-food group McDonald's and the coffee chain Starbucks had previously announced that they would temporarily close their branches in Russia.

The companies had recently come under increasing pressure because of their ongoing business activities in Russia, for example through boycott calls on the Internet.

McDonald's: Can't ignore suffering

McDonald's has announced that it will close all 850 stores in Russia until further notice.

The salaries of the approximately 62,000 local employees would continue to be paid, the company said.

McDonald's has been in the country for more than 30 years and now has "millions of Russian customers there every day".

However, because of the company's values, "one cannot ignore the needless human suffering that is happening in Ukraine," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said in an email to employees released by the company.

All employees in Ukraine would continue to be paid in full, he stressed.

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McDonald's initially gave no information on the circumstances under which the temporary closure of the restaurants in Russia could be lifted.

In his letter, Kempczinski emphasized that McDonald's "condemns attack and violence and prays for peace."

Starbucks is following suit

The world's largest coffee chain, Starbucks, is also stopping operations in Russia in view of the Russian war of aggression.

"We have decided to suspend all business activities in Russia," announced Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in a letter to employees on Tuesday.

dpa