Burger King Conquering McDonald's Territory After Crimea Withdrawal

Fast food giant Burger King plans to expand into Crimea, just a week after the news that McDonald's is shutting up shop in the peninsula.

The timing of the announcement is somewhat controversial, coming after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow who annexed the Ukrainian territory.

What makes the announcement more peculiar is the fact that Burger King doesn't have any restaurants currently in Crimea, meaning that this is a new venture for the fast food conglomerate.

"We are planning to open in Crimea, but I cannot say when exactly it will happen or how many outlets the company will have," Dmitry Medovy, Burger King's Russia CEO, told Russian news agency Itar Tass.

In 2012, Russian state-owned bank VTB purchased a 47% stake in Burger King Russia, later reducing its stake to 36.6% after selling part of its share to a financial investor.

The bank committed to investing $100m (£60m, €72m) into Burger King Russia and as such received exclusive rights to the brand for two decades, according to RT.

McDonald's became just the second international company to terminate operations in Crimea on 4 April, saying that it had suspended work for "manufacturing reasons".

McDonald's said that it will help staff to relocate to Ukraine, offering the same positions and pay in other restaurants - a sign that it does not expect its Crimea-based outlets to reopen in the near future.