40 Russian athletes probed over meldonium

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has reportedly revealed about 40 of the nation's athletes are under investigation for using banned meldonium.

A total of around 40 Russian athletes are under an investigation for using banned meldonium, Interfax news agency on Thursday quoted Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko as saying.

"If we talk about meldonium, the main task now is to stabilise the situation and minimise our losses," Mutko said.

"The second task is to assist those Russian athletes who are under the investigation - there are around 40 of them."