Russia has announced that its President Vladimir Putin will attend the International Olympic Committee's general assembly in Guatemala to lend support to the Russian city of Sochi's bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The Kremlin said in a spokesman's statement Friday that Putin will arrive in Guatemala City on July third. During his visit to the Guatemalan capital, he will hold summit talks with the Central American country's President Oscar Berger and make a pitch for Sochi's bid.

The South Korean city of Pyeongchang is competing with Sochi and Salzburg, Austria. The IOC will decide the host city in a vote this November.

As for Austria, foreign media outlets say that Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer will attend the assembly, but a Guatemalan Foreign Ministry source says Austrian President Heinz Fischer will attend himself.