Two months after the Berlin Wall fell, another powerful symbol opened its doors in the middle of Moscow: a gleaming new McDonaldB次元官网网址檚.

It was the first American fast-food restaurant to enter the Soviet Union, reflecting the new political openness of the era. For Vlad Vexler, who as a 9-year-old waited in a two-hour line to enter the restaurant near MoscowB次元官网网址檚 Pushkin Square on its opening day in January 1990, it was a gateway to the utopia he imagined the West to be.

B次元官网网址淲e thought that life there was magical and there were no problems,B次元官网网址� Vexler said.

So it was all the more poignant for Vexler when McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 announced it would temporarily close that store and nearly 850 others in response to RussiaB次元官网网址檚 invasion of Ukraine.

B次元官网网址淭hat McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 is a sign of optimism that in the end didnB次元官网网址檛 materialize,B次元官网网址� said Vexler, a political philosopher and author who now lives in London. B次元官网网址淣ow that Russia is entering the period of contraction, isolation and impoverishment, you look back at these openings and think about what might have been.B次元官网网址�

McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 said in a statement that B次元官网网址渁t this juncture, itB次元官网网址檚 impossible to predict when we might be able to reopen our restaurants in Russia.B次元官网网址� But it is continuing to pay its 62,500 Russian employees. The company said this week that it expects the closure to cost around $50 million per month.

Outside a McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 in Moscow last week, student Lev Shalpo bemoaned the closure.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 wrong because it was the only affordable place for me where I could eat,B次元官网网址� he said.

Just as McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 paved the way for other brands to enter the Soviet market, its exit led to a from other U.S. brands. Starbucks closed its 130 outlets in Russia. Yum Brands closed its 70 company-owned KFC restaurants and was negotiating the closure of 50 Pizza Huts that are owned by franchisees.

McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 entry into the Soviet Union began with a chance meeting. In 1976, McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 loaned some buses to organizers of the 1980 Moscow Olympics who were touring Olympic venues in Montreal, Canada. George Cohon, then the head of McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 in Canada, took the visitors to McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 as part of the tour. That same night, the group began discussing ways to open a McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 in the Soviet Union.

Fourteen years later, after Soviet laws loosened and McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 built relationships with local farmers, the first McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 opened in downtown Moscow. It was a sensation.

On its opening day, the restaurantB次元官网网址檚 27 cash registers rang up 30,000 meals. Vexler and his grandmother waited in a line with thousands of others to enter the 700-seat store, entertained by traditional Russian musicians and costumed characters like Mickey Mouse.

B次元官网网址淭he feeling was, B次元官网网址楲etB次元官网网址檚 go and see how Westerners do things better. LetB次元官网网址檚 go and see what a healthy society has to offer,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Vexler said.

Vexler saved money for weeks to buy his first McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 meal: a cheeseburger, fries and a Coca-Cola. The food had a B次元官网网址減lasticky goodnessB次元官网网址� he had never experienced before, he said.

Eileen Kane visited the original McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 often in 1991 and 1992 when she was an exchange student at Moscow State University. She found it a striking contrast from the rest of the country, which was suffering frequent food shortages as the Soviet Union collapsed.

B次元官网网址淢cDonaldB次元官网网址檚 was bright and colorful and they never ran out of anything. It was like a party atmosphere,B次元官网网址� said Kane, who is now a history professor at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.

McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 entry into the Soviet Union was so groundbreaking it gave rise to a political theory. The Golden Arches Theory holds that two countries that both have McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 in them wonB次元官网网址檛 go to war, because the presence of a McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 is an indicator of the countriesB次元官网网址� level of inter-dependence and their alignment with U.S. laws, said Bernd Kaussler, a political science professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

That theory held until 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, Kaussler said.

Kaussler said the number of countries now withdrawing from Russia, and the speed with which they acted, is unprecedented. He thinks some __ including McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 __ might calculate that itB次元官网网址檚 unwise to reopen, which would leave Russia more isolated and the world less secure.

B次元官网网址淎s the Russian economy is becoming less inter-dependent with the U.S. and Europe, we basically have fewer domestic economic factors that could mitigate current aggressive policies,B次元官网网址� Kaussler said.

Vexler said the admiration for the West that caused Russians to embrace McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 three decades ago has also shifted. Russians now tend to be more anti-Western, he said.

Anastasia Chubina visited a McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 in Moscow last week because her child wanted one last meal there. But she was indifferent about its closure, suggesting Russians will get healthier if they stop eating fast food.

B次元官网网址淚 think we lived without it before and will live further,B次元官网网址� she said.

Entrepreneur Yekaterina Kochergina said the closure could be a good opportunity for Russian fast-food brands to enter the market.

B次元官网网址淚t is sad, but itB次元官网网址檚 not a big deal. WeB次元官网网址檒l survive without McDonaldB次元官网网址檚,B次元官网网址� she said.

B次元官网网址擠ee-ann Durbin, The Associated Press