Construction of a new cigarette making plant has been completed near the town of Borovsk, Kaluga region, 90 km south of Moscow, said the regional governor Nikolay Liubimov in an interview to the Interfax news agency.

According to some sources, the project was initiated by JSC Soyuiz Contract Tabak, Russia’s biggest trader and licence manufacturer of Bulgartabac’s cigarettes, and supported by Elena Baturina, Russian building tycoon and wife of Moscow city mayor Yuri Luzhkov. SC-Tabak alone is reported to have invested US$ 69 million in the project. The factory is expected to employ 500 workers and make cigarettes, lighters and chewing gum which is viewed as an attempt to secure the plant’s viability on the highly competitive market. (vt)