Tough sanctions imposed on Russia by western states have reminded citizens of the country’s 1998 debt crisis.
By Anna Nemtsova
US TODAY
- McDonald’s and other American companies have shut down in Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
- One expert estimates that more than 200,000 Russians have left the country since the war began.
- To counter the economic turmoil, Putin has demanded that “unfriendly” countries pay for natural gas exports in rubles.
The once-busy corner of central Moscow’s Tverskaya Street looked deserted on Wednesday when Russia’s first McDonald’s franchise – opened in 1990 as a symbol of the Soviet Union’s opening to the West – closed its doors.
A large mural depicting a giant Soviet-era medal — the Order of Victory, the highest military decoration awarded during World War II — loomed over the empty sidewalk.
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