Moscow staged the 1980 Olympics

City mayor Yury Luzhkov announced that the Russian capital would be bidding at a special Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) meeting on Friday.

He said the only man who refused to support Moscow's bid was the Russian finance minister, but the mayor insisted that the city was capable of holding the Games without his assistance.

Moscow staged the Olympics in 1980 but they were weakened by an American-led boycott following the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan a year earlier.

Brazil ponders Games bid

It joins London, New York, Madrid, Paris, Havana and the German city of Leipzig among the candidates for 2012.

Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo in Brazil and Toronto are also expected to put in a bid before the 15 July deadline.

"We have all grounds to say that Moscow is one of the most advanced cities in the world when it comes to sports," said Luzhkov.

Moscow has important experience which will increase our chances of winning Russian Olympic chief Leonid Tyagachev

The International Olympic Committee will name the hosts in Singapore in July 2005.

Talk of a Russian bid surfaced two years ago when the International Olympic Committee met in Moscow, chosing Beijing as host for 2008 and electing Jacques Rogge as IOC president.

Rogge said at the time that he believed Moscow could stage an excellent Games.

"Moscow is one of the favourites in the upcoming bidding race," Russian Olympic committee president Leonid Tyagachev said recently.

"I rate our chances as very highly. Moscow has important experience needed to stage top sport events which will increase our chances of winning."

Russian president Vladimir Putin is a keen sportsman and Tyagachev is his ski instructor.

The 1980 legacy lives in collectors' albums

Officials in Moscow say several sports complexes and stadiums are already in place, needing only modernisation. Moscow Sheremetievo airport was built especially for the Summer Games.

Before the 1980 Olympics Soviet authorities have swept through the Olympic cities (Moscow, Leningrad, Tallinn, Riga, Kiev and Minsk) with mass police operations.

Tens of thousands of so-called "anti-social elements" were expelled from the cities. The Communist party thought they damaged the image of the USSR.

Soviet regions provided the capital with extra police officers while the entry into the Olympic cities was effectively impossible for common citizens.

Russia is also set to bid to stage the European football championships in 2012 after failing to secure the 2008 event.