Moscow McDonald's Reopens

McDonald's famously drew endless lines of Soviet consumers when it opened in January 1990.

The first McDonald's restaurant in Moscow reopened on November 19 after closing for nearly three months over health and safety violations.

The fastfood restaurant on Moscow's Pushkin Square, which opened in 1990, closed in late August in what became a string of closures of McDonald's restaurants throughout Russia.

The move was viewed broadly as a retaliation for Western sanctions on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

Many have reopened since, but, according to the company, there are still 200 inspections ongoing and four restaurants outside Moscow remain closed.

The country's food safety agency, Rospotrebnadzor, said the closures, which came after unexpected inspections, were not related to the Russia standoff with the West.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's Russian operations, Svetlana Polyakova, said the company has complied with Rospotrebnadzor's demands.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, dpa and Interfax