McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union in 1990.
The restaurant opened in Moscow on January 31, 1990, after years of planning and negotiations. Its arrival became a highly visible branding event because the Golden Arches entered one of the world's most politically symbolic cities during the final period of the Soviet Union.
The Moscow opening is sometimes dated to 1991 because the Soviet Union dissolved that year, but the restaurant opened while the Soviet Union still existed. It is also sometimes confused with McDonald's later expansion across independent post-Soviet states.
The launch demonstrated how McDonald's branding could carry ideas of American popular culture, standardized service, and international consumer life across very different political and economic settings.