Russian sports minister Vyacheslav Fetisov on Monday said he was confident that the southern resort city of Sochi could launch a successful bid to stage the 2014 Winter Olympics.
"The project has got full government backing and the idea of staging the Games is supported by 84 percent of Sochi residents," Fetisov told reporters.
"The fact that Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov heads the bid committee confirms that we are seriously committed to hosting the 2014 Games," he added.
Fetisov also said the Russian government soon planned to invest up to 196 billion roubles (6.9 billion dollars) in the development of the Sochi region, with the construction of facilities to accommodate Olympic events.
He added that 15 brand new venues would be constructed in the city and its surroundings to make the project of hosting the Olympics the most compact among all the candidates.
Sofia, Pyongyang (North Korea), Salzburg (Austria), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Jaca (Spain) and Borjomi (Georgia) are already in the running for the 2014 Olympics.
Turin is staging the 2006 Winter Olympics and Vancouver the 2010 Games.
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