DETROIT— Hours after McDonald's said it is temporarily closing all of its 850 restaurants in Russia, Coca-Cola and Starbucks announced they would pause operations in the country.
"Our licensed partner has agreed to immediately pause store operations and will provide support to the nearly 2,000 partners in Russia who depend on Starbucks for their livelihood," Starbucks said in a statement.
McDonald's also said it would continue paying its 62,000 employees in Russia.
In an open letter to employees, McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempckinski said closing those stores is the right thing to do because McDonald's can't ignore the "needless human suffering in Ukraine."
McDonald's owns 84% of its Russian restaurants.
In a recent financial filing, the company said Russia and Ukraine contributed 9% of the company's revenue last year.
Coca-Cola said it would continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine.
"Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine," Coca-Cola said in a statement.
On March 14, Amway released a statement saying the company would be suspending operations in Russia citing the conflict as a reason why business for the company there has to be suspended. In the statement, Amway wrote, "The continuing war, along with the global legal and operational environment, makes it impossible to continue business as we have been in Russia, and so we are announcing the immediate suspension of product imports and will be pausing other operations as well."
According to the Yale School of Management, nearly 300 companies have stopped doing business in Russia.
However, there are still some holdouts. Fortune reports Nestle and Pepsi are still doing business in Russia.
According to CNBC, Pepsi is pausing sales of some products in Russia, but it will continue to provide items like baby formula and baby food.
