Jokowi Welcomes Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov at G20
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15 November 2022 10:02 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo or Jokowi welcomed 17 heads of state and heads of international organizations on the first day of the G20 Summit at The Apurva Kempinski, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who was reportedly taken to the hospital after arriving in Bali.
Lavrov seemed to walk normally while smiling occasionally and was greeted by President Jokowi. The two talked for a while, laughed, and took pictures together.
Previously, an Associated Press (AP) source as quoted by Reuters on Monday reported that Lavrov, who is in Indonesia to represent President Vladimir Putin at the summit, had been taken to the hospital after arrival on Sunday.
Moscow denied the report. “This, of course, is the height of fakery,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Reuters.
Zakharova posted a video of Lavrov sitting outdoors on a patio, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, and reading documents. When asked about the report, Lavrov said Western journalists had been writing falsely for a decade that Putin was ill.
“This is a kind of game that is not new in politics,” Sergei Lavrov said with an ironic smile. “Western journalists need to be more truthful. They need to write the truth.”
FAJAR PEBRIANTO
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