The city, located in the extreme north-west of Russia, is close to Norway and Finland and is the the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

Murmansk's Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko said: "We have natural advantages for organising this compared with other regions.

"First of all, we have snow practically from October to May, and secondly, there are easy transport connections between Murmansk and Moscow."

Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have demanded that urgent steps be taken to ensure that Russia does better in Sochi than it did at the Olympics last month in Vancouver, when they finished only 11th in the medals table, their worst-ever performance.

Dmitriyenko said: "The regional Government has prepared a number of proposals which already have been sent to the President’s administration.

"I believe this will be the most efficient, the most serious contribution from our region in the preparations to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

"Russia can not deliver results such as in Vancouver."


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