Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the reports, saying that Putin never called John.
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“The president has always been open to discuss human rights issues”, he said.
On Monday, John took to Instagram to thank Putin for reaching out to him via telephone to talk about LGBT equality and about a possible future meeting between the two.
Rather than making a complete fool of the singer, the prank call is fairly tame – the pair speak earnestly about gay rights, and the wish of both parties to have a face-to-face meeting about the issue.
“That is not true”.
Putin evidently called Elton after he heard about those comments.
Sir Elton criticised Putin for telling gay people to “just leave kids alone, please”, ahead of last year’s Winter Olympic Games.
“Yes, it was us”, Krasnov was quoted as saying by Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
“Yes it was us”, Vladimir said.
I guess that’s why they call it the blues: Turns out it wasn’t Vladimir Putin on the line after all.
Peskov’s claim led to speculation Sir Elton could have been the victim of a hoax. They claimed that he had told the fake Putin: “This day, and the conversation was the most wonderful and beautiful in my life”.
Asked if he thought he could influence Putin, John replied: “Probably not. Gay people are not the problem here”, the 68-year-old told BBC television in an interview released Saturday.
So when the phone rang, with Putin apparently on the other end, John couldn’t pass on the opportunity.
“That is incredible. I am a musician and a philanthropic person and a humanitarian”, he says. “You are president of Russia, and you go and say stupid things like that?”
“I love Russia“, the singer adds later. The Kremlin later denied that the president had contacted the singer.
Krasnov has a history of making prank calls to celebrities and politicians, including former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
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Vitaly Milonov, a local MP who was honoured by Putin for piloting St Petersburg’s “homosexual propaganda law”, also said he was willing to meet Elton John and “explain why he was mistaken”.
