Lavrov denies hospitalization reports with palm trees in background

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was featured in a video wearing shorts at a resort on the Indonesian island of Bali on Monday, after media reported that he had been hospitalized for an unspecified heart problem.
Lavrov's spokesperson Maria Zakharova published a video in the Nusa Dua resort showing the minister sitting at a small table on a terrace with palm trees and the sea in the background.
The 72-year-old was wearing a blue T-shirt with a crown and the word Basquiat - a reference to US artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died in 1988 - saying that he is preparing for his appearances at the G20 summit on Tuesday in Bali.
"We are here with Sergey Viktorovich in Indonesia and are reading the ticker and can't believe our eyes," Zakharova said, referring to Lavrov.
This is the highest level of fakes, she said.
Bali Governor I Wayan Koster said Lavrov had his health examined at the island's main Sanglah hospital, but did not stay there.
"It was a health check-up," he said.
In the video, Lavrov appeared to deny he was hospitalized.
"It has been written about our president for 10 years that he was ill. This is a game that is not new in politics," Lavrov said.
The media, citing Western secret services or informants, had reported on various serious illnesses of Putin without any evidence.
Experts point out that the dissemination of such information is popular with secret services, for example to portray authoritarian politicians as weak and vulnerable.
Lavrov called on the Western media in particular to report "more honestly."
The US and the EU repeatedly accuse Lavrov and the Russian media of targeted lies, propaganda and disinformation.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said he had no information on Lavrov's hospitalization. "Maybe check with the Russians," he said.
As the highest-ranking Russian politician, Lavrov is taking part in the meeting of the 20 major economies because, according to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin cannot attend due to time constraints.
Because of his war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been overshadowed by defeats, Putin is bound as commander-in-chief in the country.
"We will adopt the final declaration tomorrow," Lavrov said in his ministry's video.
At the same time, he explained that negotiations on the final document of the G20 summit were ongoing.
The Indian foreign minister had just called him about further coordination. Russia is likely to look primarily at the wording of documents related to its war against Ukraine. In the G20, for example, China is Russia's ally.
Lavrov had previously said on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of the South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cambodia that a joint final declaration there had failed due to the dispute about the wording of the situation in Ukraine.
The US and Western allies had insisted on "absolutely unacceptable language regarding the situation in and around Ukraine."
After the ASEAN meeting, he travelled on to Bali, where he was greeted by dancing women and soldiers at the airport on Sunday. Media reports then circulated on Monday that the minister had been taken to the hospital.