MOSCOW - RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will announce steps to help the country's ailing carmakers, including one seeking a US$940 million (S$1.34 billion) emergency loan, the Vedomosti daily reported on Thursday.

Mr Putin is to announce the measures on Friday at a meeting with auto industry chiefs in the city of Naberezhniye Chelny, home of Russian truck manufacturer Kamaz, the newspaper said, citing Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The prime minister has received a wish-list of requests from carmakers struggling with the effects of the global credit crunch as well as a steady erosion of market share to foreign competitors, Mr Vedomosti said.

One request is for a 26-billion-ruble (S$1.34 billion) loan to Avtovaz, Russia's largest carmaker, to help it refinance loans and pay suppliers, the company's chief executive Boris Alyoshin told the newspaper.

Carmakers' requests for government assistance 'have already been pending for three months, though action needs to be taken quickly,' Mr Alyoshin said.

Manufacturers have also asked the government to give direct assistance to consumers by subsdising low-interest car loans, Mr Vedomosti reported.

Last week Mr Putin signed a decree temporarily hiking import tariffs on foreign cars in a bid to help domestic automakers.

The decree caused thousands of Russians to protest on Sunday in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, where many drivers own cars imported from nearby Japan. -- AFP