Two months after the Berlin Wall fell, another powerful symbol opened its doors in the middle of Moscow: a gleaming new McDonald鈥檚.

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 Moscow鈥檚 Pushkin Square on its opening day in January 1990, it was a gateway to the utopia he imagined the West to be.

鈥淲e thought that life there was magical and there were no problems,鈥� Vexler said.

So it was all the more poignant for Vexler when McDonald鈥檚 announced it would temporarily close that store and nearly 850 others in response to Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine.

鈥淭hat McDonald鈥檚 is a sign of optimism that in the end didn鈥檛 materialize,鈥� said Vexler, a political philosopher and author who now lives in London. 鈥淣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.鈥�

McDonald鈥檚 said in a statement that 鈥渁t this juncture, it鈥檚 impossible to predict when we might be able to reopen our restaurants in Russia.鈥� 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 McDonald鈥檚 in Moscow last week, student Lev Shalpo bemoaned the closure.

鈥淚t鈥檚 wrong because it was the only affordable place for me where I could eat,鈥� he said.

Just as McDonald鈥檚 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.

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

Fourteen years later, after Soviet laws loosened and McDonald鈥檚 built relationships with local farmers, the first McDonald鈥檚 opened in downtown Moscow. It was a sensation.

On its opening day, the restaurant鈥檚 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.

鈥淭he feeling was, 鈥楲et鈥檚 go and see how Westerners do things better. Let鈥檚 go and see what a healthy society has to offer,鈥欌�� Vexler said.

Vexler saved money for weeks to buy his first McDonald鈥檚 meal: a cheeseburger, fries and a Coca-Cola. The food had a 鈥減lasticky goodness鈥� he had never experienced before, he said.

Eileen Kane visited the original McDonald鈥檚 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.

鈥淢cDonald鈥檚 was bright and colorful and they never ran out of anything. It was like a party atmosphere,鈥� said Kane, who is now a history professor at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.

McDonald鈥檚 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 McDonald鈥檚 in them won鈥檛 go to war, because the presence of a McDonald鈥檚 is an indicator of the countries鈥� 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 McDonald鈥檚 __ might calculate that it鈥檚 unwise to reopen, which would leave Russia more isolated and the world less secure.

鈥淎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,鈥� Kaussler said.

Vexler said the admiration for the West that caused Russians to embrace McDonald鈥檚 three decades ago has also shifted. Russians now tend to be more anti-Western, he said.

Anastasia Chubina visited a McDonald鈥檚 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.

鈥淚 think we lived without it before and will live further,鈥� she said.

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

鈥淚t is sad, but it鈥檚 not a big deal. We鈥檒l survive without McDonald鈥檚,鈥� she said.

鈥擠ee-ann Durbin, The Associated Press