General Motors Corporation made for Russia's largest carmaker AvtoVaz formal proposal on the purchase of a large block of shares.

No body knows how large a stake GM is seeking or how much it is willing to pay.

As AP informs, GM had a 6.6 percent share of the Russian market in 2006, up from 4.6 percent the year before. GM sold 132,600 Chevrolets, Cadillacs and Hummers in Russia in 2006 through 354 dealerships, up from just 78 dealerships in 2005.

GM has been operating a joint venture with AvtoVaz at a plant in the Volga River city of Togliatti since 2001.

GM has one other plant in Russia, operated by Russian automaker Avtotor. GM also is building a third plant near St. Petersburg that is expected to begin production in 2008.