The golden arches are gone, the Filet-O-Fish is simply a fish burger.... The unveiling of the rebranded outlets, more than three decades after the American burger giant first opened its doors in Moscow in a symbolic thaw between East and West, is once again a stark sign of a new world order.... The reopenings took place on Russia Day, a holiday celebrating national pride....

Vkusno i Tochka( “ Tasty and That’s It ”), the Russian successor chain to McDonald’s, has opened its first 15 branches in Moscow after the American fast-food giant abandoned the country in protest against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. McDonald’s departure, part of a mass commercial exodus from Russia in response to its attack on its neighbour on 24 February, was particularly symbolic given that the opening of its first restaurant in Moscow’s Pushkin Square on 31 January 1990 marked the d