When it opened in 1990, the McDonald's on Moscow's Pushkin Square was a symbol of thawing relations with the U.S., attracting long lines and later becoming the fast-food chain's most visited outlet world-wide. On Wednesday evening, it stood empty, closed by Russia's consumer-safety regulator amid the Kremlin's most-serious confrontation with the West since the Cold War. The agency cited sanitary violations as it said that it had closed four McDonald's Corp.'s restaurants in Moscow. Analysts said the move was more likely the latest shot by Russia in response to U.S. and European sanctions over Moscow's role in the armed conflict with its former Soviet neighbor, Ukraine. Food inspectors "have been instruments of Russian foreign policy for years," said Stephen Sestanovich, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He cited earlier bans on Moldovan wine and U.S. chicken. To be sure, Russia has shut only four out of 435 McDonald's outlets across the country and said the move was temporary, pending further checks. But in closing the McDonald's on Pushkin Square in the heart of its capital, Russia appeared to be demonstrating its readiness to do without Western goods as it refuses to back down from its drive to retain influence in Ukraine. Russia this month banned imports of a wide range of foods, including meat and dairy products, from the U.S. and Europe. The move followed expanded Western sanctions on Russia for stoking the conflict between pro-Moscow separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies sending men and weapons to the rebels. McDonald's said it is studying the restaurant closures to determine what measures were needed to reopen the outlets as soon as possible. "Our main priority is to serve our customers with top-quality menu items," the company said. The closure of the four McDonald's restaurants was the latest move by the Russian government targeting the company. Russia's consumer-safety regulator last month filed suit against McDonald's in a Moscow court, seeking to ban some of the chain's most popular burgers and milk shakes, citing alleged food-safety violations and mislabeled nutrition information. The Oak Brook, Ill., company said its nutritional information had been approved by authorities and that "certain indicators of micro-organisms" had been corrected immediately. McDonald's in April closed its three restaurants in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed a month earlier, citing "the suspension of necessary financial and banking services." Those restaurants remain closed. At the time, a Russian nationalist politician called for all McDonald's outlets to be closed and for demonstrations outside restaurants. McDonald's restaurants in 112 Russian cities make up less than 1.5% of the company's more than 35,000 restaurants world-wide. Russia contributes less than 5% of McDonald's operating profit. The company employs nearly 37,000 people in Russia who serve more than one million customers a day, a McDonald's spokeswoman said. The country nevertheless is an important market for McDonald's because of the potential for growth. "The risk is not the closure of four restaurants in and of itself. Four restaurants to McDonald's are immaterial," said Mark Kalinowski, a restaurant analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. "It's what the action represents and highlights about the future potential of interference in McDonald's business." McDonald's problems in Russia come as the company is under pressure in the U.S., its largest market in terms of units, where sales have been lagging. The chain also faced a recent setback in China, another important emerging market, after authorities accused a supplier of selling McDonald's and other chains expired meat. "Russia is not the biggest concern about McDonald's. We're mostly concerned about a bloated domestic menu, which has slowed service times. We'd love to see that problem fixed. But is this a concern that merits investor concern? Yes," Mr. Kalinowski said. On Wednesday evening, the McDonald's on Pushkin Square, which would usually be packed on a warm summer evening, was empty and shut. The door was closed with a seal stamped by the regular, noting that the restaurant was closed at 5 p.m. Four men jumped out of an Audi sedan parked in front of the outlet. "Is it really closed?" asked one. Another passenger, a portly gray-haired man who gave his name only partially, Andrei Yurievich, said he remembered the hourslong queues that snaked along sidewalks when it first opened. "It's all a game," he sighed. "It's all politics." http://www.marketwatch.com/story/russia-shuts-four-mcdonalds-restaurants-in-moscow-2014-08-20What do you guys think about it?