Crimeans will no longer be able to get a Big Mac as McDonald's shutters on the peninsula
Scott Olson/Getty Images

McDonald's has suspended operations at its three locations in Crimea for "manufacturing reasons" as Western companies are getting increasingly worried about the potential impact that Russia's annexation will have on the peninsula.
Although the company said it hopes to reopen its Crimean locations as quickly as possible, it's offering to relocate employees to its Ukrainian outposts. "The company has provided an opportunity to all employees ... to transfer to any other McDonald's restaurants in Ukraine preserving their positions, salaries and fees and paying to relocate employees and their families," McDonald's said in a statement.
Crimea's new Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev said Russian-based fast-food companies will likely replace McDonald's in the area. "Russia has a lot of its own cafe chains, including fast food, and they can promptly take this niche," he said.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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