After temporarily shutting down due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, McDonald’s has decided to leave Russia entirely.

Accordion to CNN, the famous burger chain will be selling its Russia businesses “ saying 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.”

When the invasion of Ukraine began, McDonald’s was at the forefront of other western businesses shutting down in protest.

Since McDonald’s has decided to leave Russia entirely so have other major franchises such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi-cola. The decisions follow immense pressure from critics and other moves by Western companies. Also On Twitter, people have been boycotting and used boycott hashtags to target companies like McDonald’s and PepsiCo until they announced their plans.

Once all sales are finalized, all the Russian locations will be “de-arched” so to speak, and will no longer be able to operate under the McDonald’s name, logo, or menu. Until then the locations with over 60,000 employees will continue to be paid. 

Their decision to leave brings a 3-decade relationship to an end. McDonald’s opened its first location in Russia in January 1990.

McDonald’s owns over 847 locations in Russia. The choice to leave is going to be a very expensive one for McDonald’s as just by shutting down Russian locations temporarily the company lost $127 million last quarter.