Dr. James P. Wickstrom
A LEADING Russian politician has called for the closure of all McDonald's restaurants in the country (of Russia), in a tit-for-tat move after the US fast food chain temporarily shut their (3) branches in the disputed Crimea region.
Firebrand politician Vladimir
Zhirinovsky, who is widely viewed to have close links to President
Vladimir Putin, called for McDonald's to halt serving "their poisonous
food" in Russia.
Earlier today, McDonald's
suspended work at its three outlets in the Ukrainian peninsula of
Crimea, which was recently annexed by Moscow to widespread international
condemnation.
McDonald's said the move was due to unspecified manufacturing reasons "beyond the company's control". The chain say they hope to
resume work as soon as possible, but offered to help relocate staff to
mainland Ukraine, signalling it did not expect its Crimean business to
reopen in the near future.
In response, pro-Kremlin figure
Mr Zhirinovsky called for McDonald's to shut all (400 McDonald's) all over Russia "so there
is not a scent of them left", saying he was ready to lead a campaign to
force the closure.
He added: "It's very good that McDonald's is closing its branches in Crimea. Let them close their (400) branches over here too.
"As a form of sanctions, they have agreed not to poison Crimeans in Crimea.
"And we are supposed to be offended that we're not going to eat their poisonous food."