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Russian Files Lawsuit Against McDonalds Over 'Nauseating' Stench

People dine at McDonald's in Moscow.

A disgruntled Muscovite has filed a lawsuit against a local branch of fast food chain McDonalds, claiming the lingering smell of chips is making his life unbearable.

Plaintiff Mikhail Polyansky, who resides on Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, told LifeNews tabloid that residents who shared a ventilation pipe with the nearby McDonalds outlet were fed up of the "nauseating" smell of fast food and that in summer "it is almost impossible to live with."

Polyanksy, who is the only tenant named in the lawsuit, also has grievances about the timing of deliveries to the Chistiye Prudi branch of McDonalds, telling LifeNews: "It has been impossible to sleep for the past 10 years [because] they unload the deliveries at night."

His requests to build a new ventilation pipe and to make less noise were ignored by the fast food outlet, Polyansky claims.

McDonalds has refuted the allegations and a spokesperson for the branch told LifeNews that the matter would be settled in court.

The date for the hearing has been set for Jan. 28, the report cited a court spokesperson as saying.

McDonalds has recently found itself making headlines for all the wrong reasons in Russia, after several branches were last fall investigated by the country's sanitary watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, for reportedly violating food safety standards.

Among the outlets to be shuttered for violating sanitary codes was the flagship store on Pushkin Square, which was the first ever McDonalds in Russia. It reopened in November after a three-month hiatus.

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