Sir Elton John said he is looking forward to meeting with Vladimir Putin “face-to-face” after being contacted by the Russian President on Monday.
President Putin reportedly called Sir Elton after the singer said he wanted to speak with him over a cup of tea to discuss what he described as Russia’s “prejudice” against gay people earlier this week.
“I’d love to meet him,” Sir Elton told the BBC on Sunday. “It's probably pie in the sky, but I’d love to meet him and say, ‘come on, let’s have a cup of tea [and] let’s talk about this’.
“He may laugh behind my back when he shuts the door, and call me an absolute idiot, but at least I can have a conscience, to say I tried."
In his Instagram post the following day, Sir Elton 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.”
Russia passed a controversial “gay propaganda” bill into law banning the dissemination of ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors’ ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Mr Putin responded to international condemnation by insisting gay people were welcome to attend the Sochi Games as long as they “leave children alone”.
A spokesperson for Sir Elton told The Independent the pair did not formally set a date to meet. He declined to comment on their conversation any further.
