Following reports of Sergei Lavrov being hospitalized in Bali, denied by Russia, an Indonesian Health Ministry official said he had undergone tests but was in good health.
Was Sergey Lavrov hospitalized? The answer seems to vary depending on the source. On Monday, the American Associated Press (AP) news agency reported that the Russian foreign minister, who is representing Moscow at the G20 summit in Bali this week, was hospitalized after arriving in Indonesia on Sunday evening.
“Four Indonesian government and medical officials told The Associated Press that Mr Lavrov was being treated at Sanglah Hospital in the provincial capital Denpasar,” AP said.
“All those responsible declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly about this case. Two of the people said Mr Lavrov was being treated for a heart problem,” the agency continued.
Russia denies
Russia very quickly denied this hospitalization: “It is a fake at the highest level,” complained the minister’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, on Telegram.
She then released a video of the minister sitting on a terrace in shorts, brushing aside rumors about his health and advising Western journalists to “write the truth more often”.
“For a decade they have been reporting that our President is ill. This is a kind of game that is not new in politics,” he said, according to the translation of the Russian news agency Tass. Since the beginning of the conflict, several media outlets have reported on Vladimir Putin’s deteriorating health, some mentioning cancer, for example. This information has always been denied by the Kremlin.
According to an Indonesian official, the head of Russia’s diplomacy is “in good health”:
“He came to the hospital after he arrived in Bali (Sunday evening) for examinations,” said an Indonesian Health Ministry official, Sunarto, who, like many Indonesians, has only one name.
“He came back earlier (Monday) for a new check-up and thank God he’s fine,” he added in an interview with AFP.
Putin, conspicuously absent from the G20
The Russian foreign minister also said that he is currently preparing for the events of the G20 summit.
Sergey Lavrov replaces Vladimir Putin at the G20. The latter announced last week that after weeks of speculation it would finally not go to Bali. A meeting with American President Joe Biden was mentioned in particular by both Russia and the USA.
The Kremlin justified this absence with reasons of the “agenda” to keep Vladimir Putin in Russia, without specifying what obligation prevented him from attending one of the most important world summits. According to the Kremlin, he will not even address the summit via video conference, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country is not a member of the G20, has to speak twice.
Some experts see Putin’s absence as a sign of Russia’s international isolation. “At a summit you have to conduct interviews and have your picture taken. Who did he want to talk to there and have your picture taken?” Asks AFP’s Russian political scientist Alexei Malachenko, “not surprised” by this decision.