Did they or didn’t they?
Pop singer Elton John has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin got in touch with him to talk about gay rights. But the Kremlin is denying the conversation took place.
“Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today,” John wrote in a post Monday on his official Instagram account that featured a photo of the Russian leader. “I look to forward to meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia.”
In Moscow, Putin’s office was categorical that the singer, who regularly takes up gay rights issues, had it all wrong.
“That is not true. There was no conversation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday, according to the Russian state-run news agency Sputnik.
The contradictory statements left a puzzle about what really went on. Did John fall victim to a hoax call?
The pop star’s representatives weren’t offering any answers Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Putin post remained on his Instagram account, gathering hundreds of comments ranging from praise to abuse.
‘I’d love to meet him’
John had said in an interview over the weekend with the BBC that he wished to meet with Putin to talk about the treatment of gay people in Russia.
“I’d love to meet him,” the singer said. “I’d love to sit down with him and talk to him. It’s probably pie in the sky — but at least you try.”
Asked what he’d say to Putin, John said: “Be accepting, and let’s all pull together and try to solve the problems of the world. But don’t isolate and be prejudiced against gay people.”
Russia criticized over gay rights
Human rights groups have criticized as highly discriminatory a Russian law passed in 2013 that forbids public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere children might hear it.
A report in December by Human Rights Watch said Russian authorities are failing to protect gay people from persecution and are not prosecuting the perpetrators of a growing number of homophobic attacks.
Putin has said that Russia’s priority is “a healthy traditional family and a healthy nation” but that did not mean that it would persecute those “of a nontraditional orientation.”
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Tuesday that Putin “remains open to discuss any human rights issues, any questions — he is always ready to explain the real situation.”
But it’s unclear whether he’ll be doing any explaining to John in person in the near future.
