KIEV, Oct. 19 ??“ The Soyuz-Victan group of companies, one of CIS's major alcohol producers, plans to launch the first stage of a new alcohol plant in Lytkarino, Russia, in Q2 2007.

"We plan to launch the first stage of our plant in Q2 2007, the capacity of which will be 6 million decaliters annually," the group's chairman, Andriy Okhlopkov, told journalists this week.