The Threat of Terrorism

The fear of more terrorist attacks, however, is likely to continue to plague Moscow's bid.

The city has been the target of suicide bomb attacks linked to the ongoing war in Chechnya, now in its fifth year.

Moscow hosted its first and only Olympics in July 1980, the first time the Games were held in a Communist country.

Hosting the 2012 Games would be particularly symbolic for Russia, which made its first official appearance in the Olympics a century earlier in Stockholm.

The list of cities who have made the initial cut will be announced by the IOC in May, with the candidate cities then required to submit more detailed bid information in November.

The final vote by the 125 IOC members will be taken in Singapore on 6 July, 2005.