The replacement for McDonald’s in Russia has unveiled its new logo, ahead of a grand reopening on Sunday. The reopening is timed to coincide with Russia Day, marking the founding of the federation, at the same location in Moscow’s Pushkin Square where McDonald’s opened in Russia in 1990.

It was then seen as a powerful symbol of the former Soviet economy’s openness to Western business, but today more than 1,000 former McDonald’s restaurants in Russia will become part of a new chain, in part because of sanctions Western countries on economic activity with Russia.

The new logo features a burger and two fries in the shape of an M, although the name of the new brand has yet to be revealed.

Critics of the new logo have pointed to its similarity to that of the Marriott hotel chain, which operates in Russia. One person on social media described it as “the Marriott hotel logo crossed with the flag of Bangladesh”.

According to information from the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, the McDonald’s application in Russia has been renamed “My Burger”. The agency was informed that this was a temporary name, to comply with the requirement to remove the McDonald’s brand.

In what will be seen as another sign of the impact of Western economic sanctions on the Russian economy, Reuters reports that Russia’s Ministry of Industry expects car sales to halve in 2022 as the country’s auto industry is struggling with supply issues.

Tigran Parsadanyan, deputy director of the ministry’s automobile and railway engineering department, said on Thursday: “We saw a sharp decline in April and May. We expect some 750,000 cars to be sold in the market by the end of the year.

This figure represents a 51% drop in sales year-on-year.