Operations at the Kaliningrad-based Baltiyskaya tobacco factory, one of the largest Russian independent cigarette makers, have been shut down for 80 days.

The factory has been shut down by firefighting authorities after a regular check last January which was followed by proper legal procedures, according to a Rustabak.ru report. The shutdown is going to affect the plant’s performance dramatically, although the effect can be partly offset by the company’s facilities in Lviv and Armavir acquired over the past couple of years. Baltiyskaya tobacco factory, opened less than a decade ago, has been growing rapidly ever since and produced 13 plus billion cigarettes in 2007. (vt)