American fast-food giant McDonald’s has said it would exit the Russian market and sell its business after more than 30 years of operations in the country.

Also, French automaker Renault has handed over its Russian assets to the Russian government, both parties announced Monday, marking the first major nationalisation since the onset of sanctions over Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, Renault has had difficulty keeping its operations going due to a lack of components following the imposition of Western sanctions.

The conflict and sanctions have triggered an exodus of foreign corporations.

Russian authorities said they were ready to nationalise foreign assets, and some officials assured Russians that their favourite brands would have domestic alternatives.

McDonald’s in March closed all of its 850 restaurants in the country.

On Monday, the company said it was looking to sell “its entire portfolio of McDonald’s restaurants in Russia to a local buyer”.

European football’s governing body, UEFA, has announced the ban on Russian clubs from participating in the Champions League and all other European competitions next season.
UEFA, who announced this on Monday, said “Russia will have no affiliated clubs participating in UEFA club competitions in the 2022/23 season,” according to a statement.

Russian clubs and national teams were suspended “until further notice” by UEFA in February 2022 in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian team’s exclusion from the Women’s European Championship to take place in England in July was also confirmed Monday with Portugal taking its place.

The President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akiwumi Adesina, has revealed that the bank has developed a $1.5bn Africa Emergency Food Plan, which is now before its Board for approval.

This, he said, is meant to cushion the effect of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict on Africa’s food security.

According to a statement signed on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Dr Adesina was at the State House to brief the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on the impact of the ongoing conflict on Africa and the steps being taken by the bank to avert a food crisis in Africa.

The statement is titled, ‘Food Security: President Buhari lauds AfDB for being proactive’.

In his briefing earlier, Dr Adesina noted that the Russia-Ukraine war would create global problems, particularly for Africa, which imports a huge percentage of its food from the two countries.

He, therefore, enumerated the AfDB’s efforts to mitigate the effects.

“Already, the price of wheat has gone up about 60 per cent. Maize and other grains will also be affected. There may be a fertilizer crisis, as there would be about a 2 million metric tons deficit.

“And that will affect food production by about 20 per cent. Africa will lose $11bn worth of food, and coming shortly after COVID-19, that would be rather serious,” the AfDB President disclosed.

To prepare against the evil day, Dr Adesina said the AfDB has developed a $1.5bn Africa Emergency Food Plan, which is now before the bank’s Board for approval.

He added: “We were not ready for COVID-19, but we are now planning to avert a food crisis on the continent. There is a plan to help farmers cultivate wheat, maize, rice, sorghum, and soybeans. It will mitigate the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.”

Narrowing the discourse to his home country, Nigeria, Adesina who is a former Minister of Agriculture, said in the wet season of 2022, at least 5 million smallholder farmers would be helped to cultivate 1 million hectares of maize, 1 million hectares of rice, and 250,000 hectares of sorghum and soybeans, respectively.

“In total, our support will help Nigeria to produce 9.5 million metric tons of food,” he noted.

States that will benefit from the assistance include Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna, Imo, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory.

Dr Adesina assured the President of AfDB’s support to ensure Nigeria does not experience the full impact of the food crisis.

President Joe Biden and the European Union have announced a liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

The deal was announced on Friday during a three-day visit by the United States president to Brussels, Belgium.

The United States had banned the importation of coal, gas, and oil from Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine.

The new development is on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amid Western sanctions to weaken the economic position of the Kremlin.

“Terminator” star Arnold Schwarzenegger appealed to Vladimir Putin on Thursday to end the “senseless” war in Ukraine and praised Russians protesting the conflict as his “new heroes.”

“Ukraine did not start this war,” the former California governor said in an emotional message to the people of Russia and Russian troops posted to his Twitter account.

“I’m speaking to you today because there are things going on in the world that are being kept from you, terrible things that you should know about,” he said in the powerful nine-minute video.

The Austrian-born former bodybuilding champion, whose film “Red Heat” was the first American movie filmed in Moscow’s Red Square, spoke of his affection for the Russian people and meeting his idol, Russian weightlifter Yuri Vlasov, when he was 14 years old.

“The strength and the heart of the Russian people have always inspired me,” he said. “That is why I hope that you will let me tell you the truth about the war in Ukraine.”

“I know that your government has told you that this is a war to do ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine,” he said. “This is not true. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war. This is not the Russian people’s war.”

Schwarzenegger said “the world has turned against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine — whole city blocks have been flattened by Russian artillery and bombs, including a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital.

“Because of its brutality, Russia is now isolated from the society of nations,” he said.

In an appeal to Russian troops, Schwarzenegger recalled the wounds suffered by his father while fighting for the Nazis in Russia during World War II.

“He was broken physically and mentally and lived the rest of his life in pain,” he said. “To the Russian troops listening to this broadcast… I don’t want you to be broken like my father.

“This is not the war to defend Russia that your grandfathers or your great-grandfathers fought,” he said. “This is an illegal war. Your lives, your limbs, your futures have been sacrificed for a senseless war condemned by the entire world.”

Addressing Putin directly, Schwarzenegger said: “You started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war.”

He closed the message with praise for Russians risking arrest by protesting against the war.

AFP