Has Sergei Lavrov been hospitalized? The answer seems different depending on the sources. On Monday, the US news agency Associated Press (AP) reported that Russia’s foreign minister, who represents Moscow at the G20 in Bali this week, was taken to hospital after arriving in Indonesia on Sunday night.
“Four Indonesian government and medical officials told The Associated Press that Mr. Lavrov was treated at Sanglah Hospital in the provincial capital, Denpasar,” the AP said.
“All those responsible refused to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about this case. Two of the people said that Mr. Lavrov had been treated for a heart problem,” the agency continues.
Russia denies
Russia very quickly denied this hospitalization: “It is a fake of the highest level,” lamented the minister’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, on Telegram.
He then posted 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 sick. This is a kind of game that is not new in politics, ”he said, according to the translation by the Russian news agency Tass. Since the start of the conflict, various media have reported that Vladimir Putin’s state of health had deteriorated, some mentioning, for example, cancer. This information has always been denied by the Kremlin.
According to an Indonesian official, the head of Russian diplomacy is in “good health”:
“He came to the hospital upon his arrival in Bali (Sunday evening) for tests,” said a representative of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Sunarto, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
“He came back earlier (Monday) for a new exam and thank God he is fine,” he added, interviewed by AFP.
Putin conspicuously absent from G20
The Russian Foreign Minister also said that he is currently preparing for the G20 summit events.
Sergey Lavrov replaces Vladimir Putin at the G20. The latter announced last week that he would finally not go to Bali, after several weeks of speculation. In particular, a meeting with US President Joe Biden had been mentioned by both Russia and the US.
The Kremlin justified this absence for reasons of the “agenda” that is keeping Vladimir Putin in Russia, without however specifying what commitment prevented him from participating in one of the most important world summits. He will not even address the summit by video conference, according to the Kremlin, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country is not a member of the G20, will have to speak twice.
Some experts see Putin’s absence as a sign of Russia’s international isolation. “At a summit you have to have interviews and take pictures. There, who would you talk to and take a picture?” Russian political scientist Alexei Malachenko asked AFP, “not surprised” by this decision.
Source: BFM TV
