Though the density of cars was still considerably smaller than today and than in most Western countries at that time, urban air pollution caused by cars was, in the late Soviet Union, already considered to be a serious environmental problem and health risk. This chapter sets out to demonstrate how environmental activists from the semi-state All Russian Society for Nature Protection together with various functionaries tried to tackle the problem in Far Eastern Primorskii Krai, notably via the yearly Operations Clean Air that were organised from the early 1980s throughout the Soviet Union. It then shows how the massive influx of Japanese second-hand cars completely altered the situation from the early 1990s. Due to its Asia-Pacific location, Primorskii Krai has become the region with the highest density of cars in Russia, with environmental concerns relegated to the backseat and air pollution growing worse despite reduced emissions per car. However, it is also this Asia-Pacific context that has given the region the chance to become a frontrunner in hybrid and electric car transport within Russia in recent years.