On Monday, Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, the former top seed and five-time champion, said she tested positive for meldonium, medicine added to the list of banned substances on January 1, 2016. The substance was also found in Russian figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova’s doping test.
"I think, unfortunately, several more cases may take place… Unfortunately, many athletes took this substance," Mutko told R-Sport, adding that mass cases of disqualification over use of the substance were not expected.
The official added that serious investigations and tough decisions were expected in several types of sports over the use of meldonium.
Mutko stated that it would take three or four years to fully restore order in the Russian sports amid doping issues.
Vitaly Mutko also noted that the disqualification of Russian athletes over the use of meldonium will not affect the participation of the Russian team in the Olympic Games this summer in Brazil.
"What happened with Sharapova and Bobrova will not affect our participation in the Olympics, these are completely different things," Mutko stated.
The minister said that the Russian side was explaining this thought to its western partners, who were "under the influence of public opinion."
"Nobody can hide any doping use nowadays. On no level, as they hint, the state authority level. This is just a deception of public opinion," Mutko stressed.
The Sharapova doping case comes following the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) November report, in which the agency accused Russia of numerous breaches of global anti-doping regulations and recommended the country be banned from international athletics competitions.
The Russian authorities have promised to carry out a clean-up program to fulfill the WADA demands in order for Russian athletes to be allowed to participate in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
