KIEV, Feb. 1 ??“ Alef-Vinal company, a large producer of alcoholic beverages, says it will put into operation the first stage of a new distillery in Crimea in mid February.

"The official commissioning of the first stage of the distillery is scheduled for Feb. 15," the company's marketing director, Anatoliy Kohan, told Interfax-Ukraine.

The design capacity of the new distillery is projected to be between 3 million and 4 million liters of cognac spirit a season (from October to April), 2.2 million 0.7 liter bottles of wine, 2 million liters of brandy, and 2 million liters of vodka.