Ukraine News: "100 percent Russian" - Kremlin wants to copy McDonald's with the Uncle Vanya brand

Created: 03/18/2022, 12:08 p.m

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

McDonald's recently announced that it would close its approximately 850 branches in Russia until further notice.

© Jan Woitas/dpa

McDonald's pulled out of Russia because of the Ukraine war.

Now the Kremlin is planning its own alternative to the US fast food chain.

Moscow - After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Western companies have put their Russia * business on hold - at least temporarily.

So does the famous American fast food chain McDonald's*.

A good 30 years ago, the company's settlement was still the epitome of Moscow's opening to the West.

But with the Ukraine war*, the lights go out in the first branch in Russia, which opened on January 31, 1990.

Many Russians eat their fill again without - unlike in the past - long queues forming.

The employees should continue to receive money.

It is not foreseeable when the 850 McDonald's branches in Russia will reopen.

Western companies are leaving Russia because of the Ukraine war - Kremlin wants to replace McDonald's

The Kremlin now seems to be planning its own Russian alternative: "Uncle Vanya" (Djadia Vanya).

The release of the new fast food chain's first logo is very reminiscent of the McDonald's logo.

A yellow Cyrillic "W" for Vanya can be seen on a red background.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin would like to make almost four million euros available to realize the "Uncle Vanya" project, writes

.

The Russian fast-food chain should of course be "100 percent Russian" and cheaper than McDonald's.

Reality would then have overtaken satire.

When many Western companies announced their withdrawal, Twitter users scoffed at the fact that the Russians would now have to watch "Njetflix" instead of Netflix*.

The satirical magazine

invented Russian alternatives to well-known western fast-food chains: "The first branches of the newly founded fast-food chains McPutin, Vladivostok Fried Chicken and Burger Zar opened in Moscow today," the magazine wrote.

That didn't quite happen that way, but the reality comes pretty close to the satirical article.

After withdrawal from Russia: Kremlin threatens western companies with expropriation

For Western companies, however, the situation in the giant empire is still relatively new: Russia's Ministry of Economic Development this week introduced a bill to nationalize the property of foreign companies leaving the country.

The bill is expected to be passed this week.

Will the expropriated companies then reopen under a Russian brand at the behest of the Kremlin?

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This is indicated by a statement by Duma chief Vyacheslav Volodin last week: "If McDonald's wants to close, no problem, after all 100 percent of the ingredients are from Russian production.

Tomorrow there shouldn't be a McDonald's there, but an 'Uncle Vanya'," quotes the Austrian newspaper

Volodin.