ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. announced Tuesday it will become the first Japanese automaker to assemble cars in Russia.

The carmaker said it will build a plant with an initial annual production capacity of around 50,000 units in St. Petersburg's Shushary district.

When manufacturing operations begin in December 2007, the plant will initially produce the Camry at a pace of about 20,000 a year, Toyota said.