Russia launches fraud probe against Poroshenko's candy factory

 Russia launched Wednesday a probe into tax fraud against a candy factory owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and conducted a search of its premises, AFP reports.

Roshen, the company owned by the Ukrainian leader, denounced the raid as illegal, in the latest spat between arch-foes Moscow and Kiev, which is battling a pro-Russian insurgency in its eastern regions.

The Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement that Roshen's factory in the Russian city of Lipetsk illegally received 180 million rubles (about $3 million) by filing fraudulent tax refund documents in 2012-2013.

The Lipetsk facility produces various sorts of candy and biscuits. The factory was bought by Roshen in 2001, according to official information on the website.

The Roshen corporation said police "blocked activity on the company's facilities in Lipetsk" on Wednesday without any warning.

"Such a tax inspection is intolerable and illegal," Roshen said in a statement.

Ukraine's Poroshenko accuses Moscow of sending thousands of troops across the border to eastern Ukraine to bolster the pro-Russian insurgency Kiev has been battling over the past year.