Pranksters Made Hoax Putin Phone Call To Elton John On LGBT Rights

Pop Star Sir Elton John declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken to him in order to discuss LGBT rights in Russia.

"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," John wrote on Instagram  after what he believed was a phone conversation with Putin.

However, Russian officials denied that the President had talked to John. "That is not true. There was no conversation," Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman said, according to CNN.

And now, pranksters are admitting to the prank. Those who claim to have done it are Vladimir "Vovan" Krasnov and Alexei "Lexus" Stolyarov, who explained to local Russian daily tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda that they pretended to be Putin and Peskov, telling John that the phone call would be aired at a prime-time Russian TV show on Wednesday, as they have experience in "prank-calling celebrities".

Peskov reacted testily to their claim. Pointing out that John is "a much respected and loved performer over here" he said that the two pranksters should apologise, as their trick hoax "was not nice," according to hngn.