Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in good health after two health checks at a hospital in Bali, an Indonesian Health Ministry official said on Monday, as Moscow denied the top diplomat had been hospitalized.
Russia called reports that Lavrov was hospitalized “the highest level of fabrication,” and the Moscow Foreign Ministry spokeswoman released a video of the 72-year-old diplomat in a T-shirt and shorts.
An Indonesian official told AFP Lavrov was hospitalized two days in a row after arriving on the resort island of Bali on Sunday, where he is replacing President Vladimir Putin as head of the Moscow delegation.
“He (Lavrov) is in good health, he came to the hospital yesterday after arriving in Bali just to have his health checked,” said Health Ministry official Sunarto, who shares a name with many Indonesians.
“Earlier (Monday) he came to the hospital just for another health check and thank god he’s fine,” he told AFP.
A spokesman for Sanglah Hospital in Bali’s Denpasar city said a delegation arrived at the hospital under tight security but was not authorized to reveal the identity or condition of the person concerned.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry referred all questions to the Russian Embassy in Jakarta, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed speculation about the health of Moscow’s top diplomat and appeared in a video laughing with Lavrov.
“We’re here in Indonesia with Sergei Viktorovich (Lavrov), reading the cables and can’t believe our eyes,” Zakharova said.
“This is the highest level of forgery.”
Lavrov claimed the reports were part of “some kind of game” for which he blamed the Western media.
“You’ve been writing for about 10 years that our President is sick,” he said.
Lavrov will represent Russia at the two-day summit of the world’s 20 largest economies that begins Tuesday, with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine likely to dominate the agenda.
In July, Lavrov stormed out of a meeting of foreign ministers after a majority of those present roundly condemned Russia’s attack on its neighbor.
