Pro-Kremlin officials have cancelled mayoral elections in Russia's fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg, where the country's only independent mayor, a critic of Vladimir Putin, would have been up for re-election in September.

On Tuesday, the legislature of the Sverdlovsk region, which is dominated by the ruling United Russia party, passed in a third and final reading legislation putting an end to direct mayoral elections in the capital Yekaterinburg.

The law is backed by governor Yevgeny Kuivashev, who was appointed by Mr Putin in 2012.

The vote comes as the city of 1.4 million east of the Ural mountains gears up to host World Cup matches in June.

Yekaterinburg mayor Yevgeny Roizman, a colourful politician who first won popularity as a vigilante anti-drugs campaigner, has condemned the move as undemocratic.

“Elections are the only chance for people to participate in political life,” Mr Roizman told parliament before the vote on Tuesday. “They raise city patriotism, which is lacking. And it's not good to go and cut people off from this process.”

In place of September's mayoral election, the regional parliament will choose Yekaterinburg's mayor from candidates put forward by a commission made up of MPs and members of the governor's staff, according to the legislation.