Over the past five months car drivers in the towns of vladivostok and khabarovsk , on russia 's pacific coast , have staged a series of largely unreported rallies , following a kremlin decision in december to raise import duties on secondhand japanese cars .
There have been grassroots protests in khabarovsk and in vladivostok after moscow raised duties on second-hand japanese cars late last year , killing off a major regional business .
In march 1969 tensions exploded when russia and china fought a brief war in russia 's far east over the disputed damansky island ( now known as zhenbao ) , close to khabarovsk .
In fact , according to outside experts , mr kim was born near the russian city of khabarovsk where his guerrilla father was receiving soviet military support .
This gives him a key parallel with his father , although russian records differ from those of north korea , suggesting kim jong-il was actually born in khabarovsk in siberia .