Starbucks quits Russian market amid war in Ukraine, to pay all employees for 6 months

American Coffee Chain Starbucks has decided to call it quits in the Russian Federation as President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has completed three months. While it has already halted its shipment to the country’s market back in March, Starbucks has now announced that it will entirely quit the Russian market. The decision has made it the latest western multinational chain to leave the country in protest of the bloodshed in Ukraine. Other prominent food chains, including McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut have already left. 

Notably, Starbucks said that despite leaving, it will continue to pay its nearly 2,000 staff for the next six months. While the firm stopped short of stating the financial effect that the decision will have, it stressed that it would provide assistance to its staff "to transition to new opportunities outside of Starbucks". Notably, Starbucks opened its first outlet in Russia in 2007 and since then the business has spiralled to 130 coffee shops. On Monday, it said that it had now "made the decision to exit and no longer have a brand presence in the market".

McDonald's Start selling its Russian business

This comes as McDonald's said that it has started the process of selling its Russian business, which includes 850 restaurants that employ 62,000 people, making it the latest major Western corporation to exit Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. The fast food giant pointed to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, saying holding on to its business in Russia “is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values.” 

The Chicago-based company announced in early March that it was temporarily closing its stores in Russia but would continue to pay employees. On Monday, it said it would seek to have a Russian buyer hire those workers and pay them until the sale closes. It did not identify a prospective buyer.

Meanwhile, in the latest development on the ongoing war, the Pentagon said that it was weighing an option of deploying the US military’s Special Forces to Kyiv to guard the newly reopened embassy and American diplomats. US President Joe Biden will be presented with a proposal in the weeks ahead, though the document hasn’t been dispatched to Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley or Biden The State Department officials are also considering restoring a Marine security guard detachment in Kyiv, stating that the provision is similar to security at American embassies, worldwide. 

(Image: AP/StarbucksRussia/Twitter)