NEW YORK - The Wendy??s/Arby??s Group announced earlier this week that it would open 180 dual-branded Wendy's-Arby's restaurants in Russia over the next decade, Bloomberg reports.

Existing franchisee Wenrus Restaurant Group, an affiliate of Food Service Capital, will open 120 of the Russian restaurants, with sub-franchising agreements accounting for 60 others.

"Russia is a dynamic market which offers significant long-term expansion potential," said Wendy??s/Arby??s Group chief executive Roland Smith.

The first dual restaurant will open in a Moscow shopping center in the first quarter of 2011, and a total of 8 will be operational by mid-2012.

Wendy??s/Arby??s trails its biggest North American rivals, McDonald's and Burger King, in the number of restaurants outside of North America. Its agreement with Wenrus will be the biggest the company has signed outside the United States.

A Food Service executive said the move promises to be a good one for his company, with Russia offering tremendous sales potential.

"The more good brands there will be??the more the whole market and all the companies will benefit," said Mikhail Zelman, owner of Food Service Capital. "It would be illogical to call us rivals today. We are more like colleagues; we do one big business."

Wendy-Arby's International agrees, citing tremendous potential in a market with limited supply.

"It??s one of the least-penetrated markets," said Andrew Skehan, senior vice president of Wendy??s/Arby??s International. "There??s a meat-eating culture here. ?? So all these things together make sense for us."