news.sky.com
PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Starbucks temporarily shut businesses in Russia
KFC and Burger King are under increasing pressure from social media users and leading figures to pull their business from the country.
Business
PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Starbucks have said they will temporarily stop selling their products and close all of their outlets in Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.
The firms, along with several other global companies, had been facing threats of boycotts for failing to pull out of Russia in protest at the war.
McDonald's has said all 850 of its restaurants in the nation will close their doors - but it will continue to pay the 62,000 people who work for them there.
McDonald's owns 84% of its restaurants in Russia, and they contributed 9% of the company's revenue last year.
In a letter to employees, the company's president and CEO Chris Kempckinski said closing the outlets is the right thing to do because they cannot ignore the "needless human suffering in Ukraine".
Just hours later, Starbucks announced it was "suspending all business activity in Russia, including shipment of its products and cafes run by a licensee".
The company said Kuwait-based Alshaya Group, which operates at least 100 Starbucks cafes in Russia, will "provide support to the nearly 2,000 partners who depend on Starbucks for their livelihood".
Coca-Cola followed suit announcing it was "suspending its business in Russia".