Russian fast-food chain tries to take over McDonald's restaurants with suspiciously familiar logo

Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many global brands have made the decision to cut ties with the country in condemnation of the violence.

Multiple famous brands including Starbucks, Nike, Apple and Sony, have partially or fully left the Russian market to demonstrate their feeling about Vladimir Putin’s actions.

One of the biggest brands to cease operation in the country was the fast-food chain McDonald’s, which closed all 847 restaurants in Russia on 8 March, leaving some Russians stocking up.

But, now a new Russian brand has arrived just in time to take its place and its logo looks suspiciously familiar.

New Russian fast-food chain Uncle Vanya has filed for a patent with the Russian authorities, according to documents.

Its logo is the shape of a letter B, which, in Russian is the begging letter of the Russian spelling for Vanya.

The logo is uncannily similar to the famous McDonald’s golden arches. It’s yellow, and is essentially the McDonald’s logo turned on its side with an extra line added to create a B shape.

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Chicago-based journalist A.D. Quig wrote on Twitter: “Since the Chicago-based fast-food giant shuttered its nearly 850 stores in Russia last week amid the war in Ukraine, fears have circulated that Russian parties might try to infringe on McDonald’s trademark.

“It's happening. Say hello to ‘Uncle Vanya's’.”

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, the mayor of Moscow claimed this home-grown chain could replace all McDonald’s restaurants as the company has yet to announce if, or when, it will reopen its chains.

Sergey Sobyanin is also reported as saying that Uncle Vanya used 99% Russian ingredients and said it’s superior to the US brand.

Domestic fast-food chains were reportedly given 500 million rubles by Moscow's city council.

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