Elton John's phone call with 'Vladimir Putin' revealed as the work of Russian pranksters
Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov claim it was easy to contact the singer
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It seemed like a diplomatic breakthrough of global significance – the pop superstar turned equality campaigner Sir Elton John had managed to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk to him about gay rights.
But it appears the singer-songwriter was simply a victim of two Russian pranksters.
Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, known as Vova and Lexus, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper that it had been easy to get through to the 68-year-old Sir Elton.
They said he “immediately believed in the reality” of the conversation. They claimed that he had told the fake Putin: “This day, and the conversation was the most wonderful and beautiful in my life.”
The call lasted 11 minutes and was due to be broadcast in full on Russian state television.
The idea that the Russian president would speak to Sir Elton is not totally far-fetched. Last weekend, the singer met Petro Poroshenko, the president of neighbouring Ukraine, to talk about “the importance of legislative changes to support LGBT rights”.
Writing on Instagram, Sir Elton said: “Specifically, I asked [Mr Poroshenko] to: 1. Ban discrimination in the workplace based on sexuality and gender identity. 2. Provide criminal penalties for hate crimes. I want to thank him and the First Lady for welcoming me and David [Furnish, his husband] so warmly.”
On Monday, Sir Elton wrote about what he appears to have believed was a conversation with Mr Putin.
“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” he said.
A spokesman for Mr Putin later denied the conversation had taken place.
Sir Elton has previously criticised the Russian president’s “ridiculous” stance on gay rights and accused Mr Putin of saying “stupid things” in reference to his warning to gay people travelling to the Winter Olympics to “leave the children in peace”.
Russia passed a law banning homosexual “propaganda” among children in June 2013, sparking an international outcry.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments