The list, which ranked cities on factors including infrastructure, administrative barriers, strength and size of the local workforce, and taxation, claimed that hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics had helped the Black Sea resort reach the top position.

Sochi replaced last year's leader, Krasnodar, its neighbour.

Forbes ranked 30 Russian cities for business and Sochi was a long way ahead of the country's two biggest cities, the capital Moscow and St Petersburg, which were listed at 27th and 29th respecitvely. 

Sochi was the ideal place to do business in Russia, the authors of the report said, largely thanks to the proliferation of credit and other financial resources available to investors, which is linked to the Games. 

Taking second place was Ufa, while the Ural industrial city of Chelyabinsk came in third.

Others in the top 10 included Tyumen, Nizhny Novgorod and Dagestani capital Makhachkala.

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