Out British singer Elton John told the
BBC that he's preparing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Moscow to discuss gay rights.
“As soon as I can get a date in my
diary that coincides with him, then I will be going …. to Moscow
and I will meet him,” John
said during an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
John suggested meeting Putin during a
September interview with the BBC from Ukraine. His comments led to a
two men pranking the singer into believing that Putin had reached out
to him to discuss LGBT rights.
John said that he's now received a
genuine call from Putin.
“He was very affable. He was very
apologetic. He was very sincere,” John said.
“Whether or not I make any progress,
I don't know,” he added. “I'm not going to go straight in there
and go, 'Come on, you've got to do this. You've got to do that.'
This is the starting of a dialogue and you don't get anywhere without
a dialogue.”
In September, John called Putin's
stance on gay rights “isolating and prejudiced.”
Putin
recently claimed that Russia supports gay rights.