McDonald's successor opens in Russia following fast-food chain's withdrawal

MOSCOW/KYIV－The successor to McDonald's in Russia, Vkusno－i tochka, opened the first batch of 15 restaurants in Moscow and its suburbs on Sunday, three months after the US fast-food chain ended its business in Russia.

Oleg Paroev, general director of the company, announced the meaning of the new brand－"Delicious, and that's it"－during a ceremony at the restaurant in downtown Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square, the first McDonald's restaurant that opened in the Soviet Union in 1990.

Another 50 outlets opened on Monday, and roughly 200 outlets are expected to reopen by the end of June. All of McDonald's former 850 restaurants across Russia are expected to open by the end of summer, Paroev told reporters.

According to a previous deal, the rebranded fast-food network will use new names on the menu and retain all employees under equivalent terms for at least two years.

McDonald's suspended its business in Russia on March 14. The company announced its withdrawal from Russia on May 16 and sold the assets three days later to Russian businessman Alexander Govor, a former McDonald's licensee.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with TASS on Sunday that many companies from Europe and the United States plan to return to the Russian market as soon as possible, though now they have to wait.

Explanation urged

On the diplomatic front, Russia has asked the US to explain its military biological activities in some post-Soviet countries.

On Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the US must fulfill its obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, or BTWC, which is essential for international security.

Russia plans to hold consultations with other BTWC members on measures to increase control over the activities carried out by the US in bio-labs in the post-Soviet space, Zakharova said.

During the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian military found that US-funded biological laboratories conducted research on dangerous viruses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Russian side has repeatedly urged Washington to explain the purpose of these facilities to the international community.

On the battlefield, Ukraine said on Monday that its forces have been pushed back from the center of the eastern Severodonetsk city, where fighting with Russia has raged for weeks.

Russian forces, "with support of artillery, carried out assault operations in the city of Severodonetsk, had partial success, pushed our units away from the city center," said the Ukrainian military on Facebook.

Local governor Serhiy Gaidai said "the Russians were partially successful at night" in the city. They "pushed our troops from the center and continue to destroy our city".

Gaidai said the Russians control "more than 70 percent" of the city.

He also said around 500 civilians are taking shelter in the Azot chemical plant.

"We are trying to negotiate a humanitarian corridor" for the civilians, Gaidai said in a separate video on Telegram.

Presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak said on Monday that Kyiv needs "heavy weapons" to end the conflict.

Agencies - Xinhua