Michael Hiltzik: From Apple to Visa, the business world is imposing its own sanctions on Russia

In 1990, McDonald's was the sharp end of the spear in helping open the economy of Soviet Russia to the Western world.

The opening of its first restaurant in Moscow's Pushkin Square generated worldwide publicity as the launch of "capitalism diplomacy." What was then the world's biggest McDonald's served a record 30,000 meals in a day.

Today, three decades later, McDonald's is again looking like an outlier. Its 847 restaurants in Russia, of which 84% are company-owned, are apparently still operating. All of the 108 McDonald's locations in Ukraine are also company-owned.

While consumer companies from Apple to Walt Disney Co. to Netflix have announced shutdowns of shipments and services to Russia in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine, McDonald's has been silent, making it perhaps the most prominent Western corporation to fail to take a public stand on the Russian attack.