Stop selling products: Russian lawmaker to Coke, McDonald's

Moscow: A senior pro-Kremlin lawmaker has suggested U.S. food giants Coca-Cola and McDonald's should stop selling their products in Russia.

Aleksei Pushkov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, made the remarks on Twitter on March 5.

Pushkov wrote, "Don't McDonald's and Coca-Cola want to support [U.S. President Barack] Obama's sanctions and rid us of their products?"

"They would be true to principles and we would be healthier," he added.

The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and companies over Moscow's interference in Ukraine.

Part of Russia's response has been a ban on many Western food imports.

McDonald's and Coca-Cola have been popular in Russia for years.

Several McDonald's restaurants in Russia were temporarily shut last year, ostensibly for consumer-protection reasons, in what many observers believe was a politically motivated campaign.

Twitter, a social-media site Pushkov has frequently used to criticize the United States, is based in the United States.