Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has been taken to hospital after his arrival in Bali for the G20 summit yesterday, Indonesian authorities have said.

Bali’s governor Wayan Koster said he had been taken in for a “check-up” at the Sanglah Hospital in the provincial capital, Denpasar, and was “immediately returned”.

Three Indonesian government and medical officials said he was being treated on the resort island, with two of them reporting Mr Lavrov was receiving treatment for a heart condition.

The Russian foreign ministry dismissed claims that he had been in hospital as “fake news”.

In a Telegram post, director of the information and press department for the ministry Maria Zakharova said: “We can’t believe our eyes: it turns out that he is hospitalised.

“This is, of course, the aerobatics of fakes. Well, wait, world exclusive.”

Sky News Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay said Ms Zakharova has shared a video showing Mr Lavrov sitting in his shorts, working on a balcony.

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In the clip, she asks him what he makes of the reports, to which he replies: “Well they say our president is ill too and that’s not true, and that Western journalists should be more honest and tell the truth.”

Mr Lavrov is the highest-ranking Russian official attending the G20 summit, which begins on Tuesday.

“He is there for the G20 in place of Vladimir Putin, who decided not to attend in person himself due to the optics of him being snubbed on the world stage would not have been good,” Magnay added.

“It will be interesting to see who he has meetings with. We shall see how the G20 leaders respond to him.”

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