Russia has reiterated its intention to bid for the 2036 Olympics and is set to find the most suitable city for the Games.

“We must bid for 2036, the whole country must appoint a worthy candidate,” deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said on Tuesday in Moscow.

Russia’s Olympic Committee and the sports ministry are to select the most suitable city – with St Petersburg and Kazan mentioned earlier in the year among potential candidates.

Russia hosted the Olympics 1980 in Moscow and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Russian athletes are currently not allowed to host major events or compete as a nation with their symbols at major events including the upcoming Beijing Winter Games.

This is owing to sanctions in connection with doping practices.

The next summer Games are 2024 in Paris, 2028 in Los Angeles and 2032 in Brisbane.

Others mulling a 2036 bid include Germany with their capital Berlin. This is in an attempt to show that the country has changed 100 years after the 1936 Games held during Adolf Hitler’s Nazi era.

Chernyshenko said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had yet to start the bid process.

In the past, cities were elected seven years in advance but the whole bid process has now changed.

(dpa/NAN)