Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was taken to hospital due to health concerns after arriving for the Group of 20 summit in Bali, several Indonesian authorities said on Monday. Russia denied that he had been treated. Russia’s top diplomat arrived on the resort island last night to take part in the meeting of the world’s top economies, which begins on Tuesday. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later denied that Lavrov had been hospitalized, calling it “the highest level of fakery.” He did not consider whether he had received medical treatment. He posted a video of Lavrov looking healthy in a T-shirt and shorts, in which he was asked to comment on the report. “They’ve been writing about our president for 10 years that he got sick. It’s a game that’s not new in politics,” Lavrov says in the video. Russia’s state-run Tass news agency separately quoted Lavrov as saying: “I am in the hotel reading material on tomorrow’s summit.” Lavrov is the most senior Russian official at the G20 meeting, which is being attended by US President Joe Biden, China’s Xi Jinping and other leaders. Four Indonesian government and medical officials told The Associated Press that Lavrov was being treated at Sanglah Hospital in the provincial capital, Denpasar. All the officials declined to be named as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Two of the people said Lavrov had been treated for a heart condition. The hospital, Bali’s largest, did not immediately comment. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attendance at the G20 was uncertain until last week, when officials confirmed he would not be coming and that Russia would be represented by Lavrov. The fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to be among the topics discussed at the two-day G20 meeting, which brings together officials from countries that account for more than 80 percent of global economic output. Biden and Xi met separately ahead of the summit in their first one-on-one talks since the US president took office.
