Vladimir Putin spokesperson denies President phoned Sir Elton John
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Sir Elton John’s claims that he called the British singer to arrange a meeting to discuss LGBT rights.
Sir Elton, 68, recently thanked Putin for “reaching out” to him, but a spokesperson for the President has now dismissed Sir Elton’s claims that the pair spoke over the phone and agreed to meet to discuss Putin’s “ridiculous” attitudes to LGBT rights.
A spokesperson told ITV News: “Putin did not have a conversation with Elton John, and, what's more, we have not received any requests from him for a meeting.
“The president has always been open to discuss human rights issues.
“The president, I'm sure, will be ready to meet with Elton John, too, if there is such a request.”
On Monday Sir Elton took to Instagram to inform his 200,000 followers that the President had telephoned him.
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4"> <div> <div> <div> </div> </div> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://instagram.com/p/7nZYS2gGUW/" target="_blank" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2948301-https://instagram.com/p/7nZYS2gGUW/" data-vars-event-id="c23">Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today. I look to forward to meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia. @president_vladimir_putin @ejaf #lgbt #lgbtrights #ShareTheLove</a> A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on <time datetime="2015-09-14T15:11:26+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 8:11am PDT</time> </div>
Alongside a head shot of Putin, the Rocket Man singer wrote: “Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today. I look to forward to meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia. @president_vladimir_putin @ejaf #lgbt #lgbtrights #ShareTheLove.”
Sir Elton’s post came days after he criticised Putin’s attitude towards gay rights during a BBC interview.
"Give me a break," the singer told the broadcaster. "You are President of Russia, and you go and say stupid things like that?
"I would like to meet [Mr Putin].
"It's probably pie in the sky... He may laugh behind my back when he shuts the door, and call me an absolute idiot, but at least I can think I have the conscience to say I tried."
