Sharapova, who has won five Grand Slam titles and an Olympic silver medal, announced early last month she had failed a drugs test at January’s Australian Open with a spate of cases involving the heart-attack drug emerging since.

Meldonium was only added to the banned list by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from January 1.

Many athletes claimed that they did not know the substance - which is said to boost endurance - was to be outlawed, with Sharapova saying she had not read the updated banned list.

Other athletes have insisted they stopped taking meldonium before January 1, and they were given hope of avoiding penalties when WADA moved to clear up confusion on how long the drug stays in the human body.

It was ruled that if below one microgram of meldonium was detected and the failed test came before March 1, a negligence or no fault verdict could be reached.

This came after WADA admitted that "limited data exists to date" on the urinary excretion of the drug, although several studies are currently being conducted in accredited laboratories.

"Masha’s [Sharapova's] case is more complicated," Mutko said in an interview aired by Match TV, a Russian public sports channel.

"The [meldonium] concentration in her blood is above the norm."

Mutko added: "Masha took the formula for several years on her doctor’s prescription.

"I am not going to announce if she will be able to avoid punishment or not.

"We just want her to restore her position in sport."

David Haggerty, President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), claimed last week that the situation concerning meldonium "could have been dealt with better" by WADA.

Twenty-nine-year-old Sharapova is facing a disciplinary hearing in front of the ITF, though the exact date cannot be revealed for "confidentiality" reasons, the governing body recently told insidethegames.

American Haggerty, elected Francesco Ricci Bitti's replacement as the head of the ITF in September last year, revealed that cases dealt with by the independent Tennis Integrity Unit usually take "two to three months" from when they begin to reach a resolution.

That raises the possibility that a decision may be reached as early as June of this year, which had been previously intimated by Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpishchev.

Sharapova has already lost lucrative endorsements after her failure, although watch brand Tag Heuer told Russian news agency TASS they had no plans to reinstate her should she be cleared.