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Associated Press, citing Indonesian officials, said that Lavrov
had been taken to hospital after arriving on the island of Bali
for a Group of 20 summit. AP said Lavrov, 72, had been treated
for a heart condition.
"This, of course, is the height of fakery," Russian Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Zakharova posted a video of Lavrov, President Vladimir Putin's
foreign minister since 2004, sitting outdoors on a patio,
dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and reading documents.
Asked about the report, Lavrov said Western journalists had been
writing falsely for a decade that Putin, 70, was ill.
"This is a kind of game that is not new in politics," Lavrov
said with an ironic smile. "Western journalists need to be more
truthful - they need to write the truth."
Lavrov, who arrived in Bali on Sunday evening, said Western
media routinely took a partial view of events and ignored
Russia's point of view.
Bali Governor I Wayan Koster told Reuters that Lavrov had
briefly visited Sanglah Hospital in Bali for a "check-up" but
that the minister was in good health.
"He was in good health and after the check-up he immediately
left," the governor said.
Associated Press did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on their story.
Lavrov is Russia's longest-serving foreign minister since Soviet
times, when Andrei Gromyko, nicknamed "Mr Nyet" in the West for
his uncompromising approach, held the post for 28 years.
A graduate of the prestigious Moscow State Institute of
International Relations, Lavrov speaks fluent English and French
and also Sinhalese, having worked as a Soviet diplomat in Sri
Lanka.
Before becoming foreign minister, Lavrov served as Russia's
permanent representative to the United Nations.
Sometimes nicknamed "Dr No" in the West, he is known for his
acerbic remarks, especially about interlocutors whom he
considers poorly prepared.
Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov repeatedly dismissed
U.S. and British assertions that Putin was preparing to order an
invasion.
After the West imposed the most stringent sanctions in modern
history on Russia, Lavrov said Moscow would turn away from the
United States and its allies and instead expand relations with
countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Kevin
Liffey)
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