Ukraine president to end his sweets deal in Russia

KIEV (AFP) -
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's confectionery company on Friday announced plans to shut down his key asset in Russia, a candy factory, after a barrage of criticism at home for his maintaining business activities on rival ground.

The Western-backed leader's business empire ranges from car to media holdings, but his most valuable asset is the Roshen confectionery empire, which includes five plants in Ukraine as well as in Lithuania and Hungary.

Ranked by the Forbes Ukraine website as the country's sixth-richest man, worth $858 million (806 million euros), Poroshenko, 51, has garnered the nickname "the chocolate king".

His most controversial asset is based in the Russian city of Lipetsk, where Poroshenko bought a local confectionary plant in 2002.

Since 2013, the volume of production at the Lipetsk factory has plunged threefold, coinciding with the rupture of ties between Ukraine and its former Soviet master.

http://www.france24.com/en/20170120-ukraine-president-end-sweets-deal-russia

No emoluments clause?