Putin calls off meeting with Sir Elton John, despite earlier readiness

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not meet with Sir Elton John during the singer’s trip to Moscow this month, despite previous indications that the meeting might take place. The president’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said that their schedules are incompatible at present. “Unfortunately, it will not work out this time … But this does not mean that this meeting cannot take place in the future.”

“Elton John and I corresponded several weeks ago, because, as you know, we did come to the agreement that if their schedules were to allow it, [the two men] would meet. President Putin expressed a readiness to do so,” said Peskov.

In September 2015, President Putin proposed a meeting with Elton John, having personally called the British singer in a gesture of apology after the latter fell victim to a telephone prank that he thought was a call from the Russian president. Putin asked Elton John not to harbor ill feelings and said that people who pull such pranks are generally unthreatening.

After his conversation with the pranksters, Elton John uploaded a photograph of Putin to his Instagram account and left a comment in which he thanked the Russian president for his telephone call and expressed a hope to meet with him in person to discuss LGBT+ rights in Russia.

Elton John will be giving a concert in Moscow on May 30.