He was involved in opening McDonald 's in the former Soviet Union with the first restaurant opening in Moscow in 1990 . The first restaurant was at the time McDonald 's biggest , and was opened with minimal involvement from the U.S. parent company , for political reasons . It accepted only Russian rubles , not hard currency , and in the early days , the line to enter the restaurant could be several hours long . Due to Soviet supply shortages , the company created its own supply chain in the Soviet Union , including farms and packaging . At the 1991 G7 Summit in London , Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ( Cohon 's personal friend ) personally complained to Mikhail Gorbachev about the difficulties Cohon was experiencing doing business in the Soviet Union
1991 G7 Summit
17th G7 summit
George Cohon