In a video, foreign minister rubbishes stories from US/UK media outlets as part of ‘a political game’
Reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was hospitalized after his arrival at the G20 summit on the Indonesia island of Bali are “top-level fake news,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Zakharova, who is also on the island, said that she read the US and UK media stories with the foreign minister and we “just couldn’t believe our eyes.”
In a video, Lavrov showed that he wasn’t in hospital. The veteran official likened the reports to years of false Western media allegations about the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
AP and some other Western outlets reported on Monday that Lavrov was taken to hospital with heart problems shortly after arriving in Bali.
Zakharova later posted a short clip on Telegram, which showed Lavrov sitting on the terrace of his hotel room in shorts and a t-shirt, working on documents.
When asked to comment on the reports, the minister said that “this is a kind of game that isn’t new in politics.”
The 72-year-old diplomat advised Western journalists “to be more honest, report the truth more often” and be less one-sided when covering events related to Russia.
READ MORE: Putin won’t attend G20 – Kremlin
The G20 summit will take place in Bali on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Russian delegation is headed by Lavrov after President Vladimir Putin decided to skip the trip because of the “need to stay” in Russia. According to the Kremlin, there are also no plans for Putin to address the gathering via video link.
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com