Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov taken to hospital: Indonesian officials

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been taken to the hospital after suffering a health problem following his arrival for the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesian authorities said Monday.

Three Indonesian government and medical officials told The Associated Press that the Russian diplomat was being treated on the resort island.

All declined to be identified as they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Two of the people said Lavrov was being treated for a heart condition.

Officials at the Russian Embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed the report, scolding Western journalists for what he cast as false reporting.

"This, of course, is the height of fakery," 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 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 breifly 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.

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