Russia's consumer protection agency to investigate McDonald's in Kaliningrad

Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare has announced the return of health and safety inspectors to two McDonald's restaurants in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad on Monday.

According to the Itar-Tass news agency, five McDonald's restaurants in Moscow were charged in August with improper product storage. A total of 12 McDonald's restaurants across Russia have been closed after failing similar checks.

McDonald's in Kaliningrad was investigated in 2011 and 2012 following complaints from consumers. In at least one case a violation of Russian sanitary legislation was confirmed.

Although the announcement of further inspections comes as diplomatic tensions between Russia and the United States reach an unprecedented post-Cold War high due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told local media that ongoing inspections were routine and that the Russian government did not intend to force the American fast food chain to close its operations in Russia.

McDonald's operates a total of 485 restaurants across 85 Russian cities. The results of the Kaliningrad inspections will be made public in due course, a Federal Service spokesperson confirmed. Endite