MOSCOW (Reuters) - A total of around 40 Russian athletes are currently under an investigation for using the banned meldonium substance, Interfax news agency on Thursday quoted Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko as saying.

"If we talk about meldonium, the main task now is to stabilize the situation and minimize our losses," Mutko said. "The second task is to assist those Russian athletes who are under the investigation - there are around 40 of them."

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov)