No respite for candy factory caught up in Russia-Ukraine crisis

An employee works at a Roshen Confectionery Corporation plant in Lipetsk, in this March 28, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev/Files

LIPETSK, Russia (Reuters) - The fortunes of the Russian outpost of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's candy empire have ebbed and flowed with the Russian-backed separatist conflict in the east of his country.

If the factory turning out toffees and jellied sweets in the southwestern town of Lipetsk is a bellwether for the direction of relations between Moscow and Kiev, things do not look good.