What was McDonald’s first restaurant in the Soviet Union, opened in Moscow in 1990, called?

McDonald’s first Soviet restaurant, opened in Moscow in 1990, was the Pushkin Square McDonald’s.

The restaurant opened on January 31, 1990, after years of negotiations and preparation. Its arrival in Moscow became a major international branding event because it placed a famous American fast-food chain in the Soviet Union near the end of the Cold War.

The location was named for Pushkin Square, one of central Moscow’s prominent public spaces. Long queues formed on opening day, making the restaurant’s launch a widely remembered example of how consumer brands could carry political and cultural significance.

It is sometimes called simply “the Moscow McDonald’s,” but Pushkin Square McDonald’s is the specific location name. The opening occurred before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.