MOSCOW - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Saturday called for protecting the "clean" Russian athletes as the country's sports community has been dragged into a whirlpool of alleged doping use.

"The situation around doping is restless. We should have tackled it seriously before. Now the main task is to protect those who are not guilty," he was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying, while urging to learn a lesson from the latest wave of doping use accusations.

On Friday, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said 27 Russian athletes, including the five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova, have so far been tested positive for using meldonium, a drug banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) this year.

Meldonium, also known as mildronate, is used to treat diabetes and low magnesium. WADA considers the drug to be a metabolic modulator that increases athletes' endurance and shortens post-exercise rehabilitation time, as well as enhances central nervous system activation.