MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian Ministry of Sports has sent a letter to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) with the request to pay serious attention to the problem of meldonium, Natalya Zhelanova, an adviser to Russia's sports minister, said.
Russian Ministry of Sport has previously sent a letter to WADA asking to investigate results management in relation to Meldonium.
— Natalia Zhelanova (@Zhelanova) 10 мая 2016 г.
In March, a number of prominent Russian athletes were tested positive for meldonium, added to the list of banned substances on January 1, 2016 by WADA.
Meldonium was developed in Latvia to treat patients with heart conditions. WADA considers the drug to be a metabolic modulator that increases athletes' endurance and shortens post-exercise rehabilitation time.
In April, WADA said in a statement that less than 1 micrograms of meldonium per milliliter in a doping test would be permissible in samples submitted before March 1, 2016.