NOVOSIBIRSK, July 03 /ITAR-TASS/. Lenar Kutlin, McDonald’s national development director for Russia, told Itar-Tass on Thursday that the fast food chain would open 70 new McDonald’s restaurants in 30 Russian cities before the end of 2014.

"There will be restaurants in Siberia, the Central Federal District and the country’s south,” Kutlin said adding that Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Omsk would be the first on the list.

Kutlin did not specify the names of cities in the Central Federal District and southern Russia. The only thing he said that none of them had had a McDonald’s restaurant before.

He did not clarify whether McDonald’s was going to return to Crimea.

In April 2014, McDonald's suspended its operations in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta because of difficulties with financial services. The staff was offered a job at any other McDonald’s branch to their liking. Their salaries and positions were preserved.

McDonald’s will open three new fast-food restaurants in Novosibirsk before the end of 2014. Another 20 McDonald’s restaurants are to open in Novosibirsk in the years to come.

The McDonald’s fast-food chain was established in 1940. The first U.S. restaurant opened in San Bernardino (California, USA) in 1940.

Russia’s first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Moscow in 1990. At present, McDonald’s has over 400 fast-food restaurants in Russia, according to the company’s official website.