MOSCOW. April 22 (Interfax) - McDonald's will open 40 restaurants in Russia this year, bringing the overall number of outlets in the country to 233, Khamzat Khasbulatov, McDonald's president for Russia and Eastern Europe, said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

The company has already opened four new restaurants this year, he said. McDonald's opened 21 new restaurants in 2006 with investment totaling more than 1.5 billion rubles.

I addition, McDonald's is investing in overhauls to existing stores. About ten restaurants have been refurbished with investment in each outlet totaling $500,000.

Khasbulatov said the company is pushing towards the east of the country, particularly to Chelyabinsk and Tyumen. "The Volga and Urals regions are the most interesting in the company's development plans. It's possible that restaurants will be opened in Perm this year as well as in Kaliningrad and several cities in central Russia," he said.

"We would like to open more restaurants in Russia, but, unfortunately, the procedure for receiving permission is not becoming any easier," he said.

McDonald's is also planning to expand existing and introduce new forms of accessibility to its products in Russia, he said. Khasbulatov said he was referring to 24-hour express windows (there are currently 38 in Russia) and drive-thru windows. McDonald's is also implementing a joint project with Shell that will house both gas stations and restaurants on Leningradskoye Highway. "Experience shows that combining the two facilities produces a good, synergetic effect," he said.

The company is also considering opening restaurants at airports and train stations in Russia, he said. "A restaurant will be opened at one of Moscow's airports next year," he said, noting that it would most likely be Sheremetyevo Airport, although talks are also being held with Domodedovo Airport.

Khasbulatov said the company continues to develop its chain of local suppliers and remove logistics from its own management. The company's logistics were handed over last year to Alfa Group affiliate Rulog, which has a distribution center in Moscow and is planning to open similar facilities in St. Petersburg, Kazan, the Urals and in southern Russia. "But we select the suppliers ourselves," he said.

Chicken production has been transferred to a plant in the Kaliningrad region, which was set up jointly with Brazil's Sadia. "The production of beef patties will be handed over before the end of the year to an enterprise that Italy's Inalca is building in the Moscow region," he said. "Thus, more than 80% of the products for our chain will be produced on Russian territory. Only the production and processing of potatoes and fish products will remain abroad," he said.

Commenting on the company's franchise program, Khasbulatov said "franchising will appear in Russia as soon as it becomes possible, but for now there is no motivation to sell franchised restaurants.

"Russia is one of the most successfully developing markets of the McDonald's Corporation in Europe," he said. Noting that the company operates in 118 countries, he said Russia is among the top ten in terms of turnover. Khasbulatov declined to provide specific figures and only said that annual growth rates in turnover and the opening of new restaurants exceeds 20%.

McDonald's has been working in Russia since 1991.