Agapitov, a member of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Executive Board, told Russia's official state news agency TASS the event would be postponed again amid ongoing concern over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Russian capital had been set to host the competition from April 4 to 12 before it was rearranged for June 13 to 21.

The event had been due to form part of the qualification process for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, postponed to 2021 because of the virus.

The EWF Electoral Congress was scheduled to be held to coincide with the Championships in June and is also likely to be postponed.

New dates for the European Weightlifting Championships are set to be confirmed at a meeting of the IWF Executive Board this week.

Agapitov told TASS he had suggested the event be moved to October.

"Everyone understands that under the current situation all countries have been blocked and it is impossible to get everyone together," he said.

"The city of Moscow has been blocked as well and it is obvious that the situation is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

"I have pointed out during my talks with the general secretary of the EWF that the tournament [in Moscow] must be postponed since there were only two months left before the set date. 

"We can't do anything in the current circumstances so I proposed the month of October."