The Head of the Sports Ministry of Russia Vitaly Mutko claimed the responsibility for the scandal with the use of meldonium by Russian athletes. He also stated that the substance was excreted from the body longer than it was previously thought. The Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that as the Head of the department he shared the responsibility for the recent events with meldonium with Russian athletes. He said this at a meeting of the Public Council under the Ministry of Sports of Russia.

      “As the Head of the industry I am responsible for Pavel Kulizhnikova, for Ekaterina Bobrova, I share collective responsibility and should be by their side. We must understand what went wrong, it is necessary to create a system that will protect top athletes against things like this” – Mutko stressed (the quotation according to “Interfax”). He also noted that it was needed to develop domestic sports medicine in order not to use foreign drugs in sports pharmacology.