McDonald’s has been approached for comment.

The mayor of Moscow said domestic chains could replace the 250 McDonald’s restaurants in the Russian capital within a year, Russia’s Interfax news agency said.

He reportedly suggested the replacements would be preferable to the US giant as 99 per cent of their ingredients would be Russian.

The city council was said to have awarded 500m rubles (£3.7m) to domestic fast food chains.

Last week, Russia’s State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told parliament that Uncle Vanya should replace McDonald’s.

McDonald’s stopped operating in Russia last week more than 30 years after its arrival served as a symbol of warming relations between east and west at the end of the Cold War.

Moscow residents wait outside Russia’s first McDonald’s in 1991

“Our values mean we cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine,” McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said in an open letter to employees.

The Chicago-based burger giant said it would continue paying its 62,000 employees in Russia “who have poured their heart and soul into our McDonald’s brand”.

Mr Kempczinski said it was impossible to know when the company will be able to reopen its stores.