Moscow is to bid for this year's world swimming championships after the sport's world governing body FINA last week dropped Montreal as the host.

"We have been thinking about this ever since Montreal was dropped," Gennady Alyoshin, president of the Russian Swimming Federation, told Reuters.

FINA decided to re-open the bidding after terminating its contract with the Canadian city because of financial problems.

Athens is considered the favourite after staging the Olympics last year. The German swimming federation is also contemplating a bid by either Berlin or Munich.

Long Beach, California, had originally bid against Montreal to host the event but officials in the US city have reportedly said they are no longer interested.

Australia, which staged the world championships in 1991 and 1998 and is scheduled to host them again in 2007, has also ruled itself out. FINA will announce a new host city next month.

Alyoshin felt Moscow's bid, if successful, could help the Russian capital raise its profile in its attempt to stage the 2012 Olympics.

"After a thorough review and consultations with the Moscow government we decided to throw our hat into the process," he said.

"We have been given a full backing by the city government to stage such a prestigious and high-profile competition as the world championships and it can only help our city to increase its profile and show its sports capability in the long run."

Moscow, which hosted the boycott-affected 1980 Summer Games, is competing against Paris, London, Madrid and New York for the right to stage sport's biggest event.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will select the winning city in July.

Moscow, which also hosted the world short-course championships last year, is planning to use the same 50-metre pool which was used for the 1980 Olympics.