In an interview with news agency TASS, Mutko said the test for the anabolic steroid could not be trusted because it was designed by Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the Moscow Laboratory whose testimony sparked the Independent Commission investigation into widespread doping in Russia.

A "number of athletes" have filed lawsuits against Rodchenkov's method, which can detect steroids in the body for far longer, according to Mutko, who was promoted from Sports Minister to Deputy Prime Minister in October of last year.

"Most violations are currently detected according to a technology designed by a former head of the Russian lab," he said.

"Turinabol tests are his invention. 

"Currently, a number of athletes filed lawsuits against his method. 

"The outcome is unclear, but certain experts believe that this test will find turinabol even in coffee."

In a statement sent to insidethegames, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) dismissed the suggestions made by Mutko.

"Oral Turinabol is a synthetic anabolic steroid developed by a pharmaceutical company and we are not aware of any natural source of turinabol," a WADA spokesperson said.

"We have tested hundreds of thousands of coffee drinkers' urine samples over the years without detecting any turinabol or metabolites of turinabol."

Two Russian athletes - Tatyana Chernova and Maksim Dyldin - were both disqualified from Beijing 2008 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday for failing retrospective tests.

Chernova was stripped of the bronze medal she won in the heptathlon event in the Chinese capital as a result.

The heptathlete has already been stripped of her 2011 world title and the Olympic bronze medal she won at London 2012 for doping.

Both athletes were caught thanks to new techniques provided by Rodchenkov.

Turinabol has been at the centre of the IOC's retesting of samples from Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

A total of 83 athletes have tested positive for the substance in the retests across both editions of the Games.

Turinabol was also the substance of choice for East German officials in the country's infamous state-sponsored doping scheme.

During a 20-year period in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted a widespread doping regime, known as State Plan 14.25.

It is estimated that up to 9,000 athletes were part of the programme, often being given banned drugs without their knowledge. 

It was overseen by the Ministry for State Security, known as the Stasi.