MOSCOW - THE head of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party in the Russian Far East has resigned after street protests against a hike in tariffs on imported cars, the Kommersant daily reported on Tuesday.

'I have written the (resignation) statement. This is my own decision,' Mr Petr Savchuk, the head of the regional council of the United Russia party in the Primorsky Region, told the newspaper.

He did not give further details but the paper said that party headquarters in Moscow had forced his resignation because he had supported the demands of protestors against the tariff hike.

Hundreds of demonstrators have for the last two weekends running held protests in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok against the government's decision. Some have called for Mr Putin's resignation.

Riot police flown in from Moscow on Sunday forcibly broke up a protest of 1,000 demonstrators in Vladivostok, amid allegations of beatings.

The government earlier this month increased tariffs on used cars from abroad - notably from nearby Japan - to shield Russian automakers from the worst of the global economic crisis.

Japanese-made Nissan and Toyota cars are highly popular in Vladivostok and an estimated 200,000 people in the city's region work in the import, sales and servicing of imported cars.

'Mr Savchuk is being blamed for that fact that his department supported the demands of the participants in the protest actions against abolishing the hike in tariffs,' an unnamed United Russia official told the newspaper.

Economists have criticised the government's decision to transport Russian-made cars across seven times zones to the Far East in order to encourage Russians not to buy imported vehicles.

The United Russia party dominates Russia's parliament. Mr Putin is the party's leader although, oddly, he is not a card-holding member of the faction. -- AFP