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Moscow - McDonald's on Wednesday re-opened its flagship restaurant in central Moscow, after authorities lifted a three-month closure over alleged sanitary violations.
Visitors were let into the store on Pushkin Square that was decorated with balloons just after noon, local news agencies reported.
The restaurant famously drew endless lines of Soviet consumers when it opened in January 1990.
Russia's consumer watchdog in August ordered a number of restaurants to be temporarily closed, claiming that the US fast-food chain had violated sanitary rules.
The measures were taken shortly after Moscow banned food imports from Western countries in retaliation against sanctions imposed on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia has in the past cited sanitary violations to justify politically charged import bans and many observers linked the McDonald's closures to the Ukraine crisis.
McDonald's said on Wednesday that six restaurants, located in Moscow, Sochi and Volgograd, remain closed because of the watchdog's complaints. It added that it would challenge the decisions in court.
McDonald's staff members celebrate after the fast-food restaurant reopened. (Alexander Utkin, AFP)
