McDonald's sanction busting restaurant opening

McDonald's has opened its 500th restaurant in Russia, 25 years after the company opened its first fast food restaurant in the Soviet Union.  The restaurant in Russia's 4th largest city, Yekaterinburg, takes the number of McDonalds to 12 in city close to the Ural mountains.

Obviously if you are a big enough US company, you can be exempt from the sanctions your country is imposing on Russia.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/520702.html

Its probably a good job, given the hard time McDonald's has been having in Russia of late.

http://blog.therussiahouse.net/2014/10/ten-mcdonalds-restaurants-closed-in.html

Following the closure (temporary or otherwise) of a number of McDonald's in Russia, arising from failed hygiene inspections, the company has permanently closed a restaurant for the first time in its 25-year history in Russia.  

TASS reported in April 2015 that a McDonald's restaurant in the Belgorod region to the south of Moscow, was closed after they were unable to agree on rental payments with the property's owner.