By Duncan Mackay

St_Basils_Cathedral_MoscowApril 25 - London is set to be replaced by Moscow as the host city for next year's Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly after the British Olympic Association's (BOA) cash problems forced it to pull out.


As insidethegames revealed exclusively last month, the BOA had to give up the opportunity to stage one of the most important events on the Olympic Movement's calendar because they could not afford the £5 million ($8 million) it would have cost to stage.

The setback was a huge embarrassment for Colin Moynihan, the chairman of the BOA, but now Moscow have offered to stage the event.

The deal is expected to be finalised when a delegation from the ANOC travels to the Russia capital at the end of July to finalise arrangements for the Assembly, which is due to be held between April 12 and 17.

The bi-annual event is attended by more than 200 National Olympic Committees and is held in conjunction with a meeting of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board.

It will be the first time since Sydney in 2000 that the host city for that year's Olympics has not held the event.

It is the second time in recent weeks that Moscow have stepped in to offer themselves as a replacement for a major event.

Last month they were chosen to replace Tokyo as the host city of the World Figure Skating Championships after they were forced to pull-out following the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Russia is due to host several important Olympic meetings in the build-up to the 2014 Winter Olympcis and Paralympics in Sochi.

They include this year's European Olympic Committees (EOC) General Assembly and the annual SportAccord convention in 2013. 

Both events are due to be held in Sochi.

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March 2011: Exclusive - BOA cash problems force them to give up ANOC General Assembly