Russian film directors aim for chain to challenge Western fast food

Two of Russia's best-known movie directors are aiming to create a chain of fast-food restaurants that would be an alternative to Western-style operations such as McDonald's.

The move by Nikita Mikhalkov and Andrei Konchalovsky, who are brothers, comes amid growing animosity toward the West, especially the United States, over the conflict in Ukraine. But even before those tensions emerged, many Russians watched uneasily as Western fast-food outlets spread vigorously.

Mikhalkov and Konchalovsky proposed the project, called "Eat at Home," in a letter to President Vladimir Putin last month that said the goal was "the creation of an alternative to Western fast-food chains," the newspaper Kommersant reported.

The business news agency RBC reported Thursday that the government will back a bank loan of 680 million rubles ($13 million) for the project.