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Elton John says he got a call from Vladimir Putin after requesting meeting

Elton John says Russian President Vladimir Putin called him after the singer asked for a meeting to talk about gay rights.
Elton John performs at Joe Louis Arena on Nov. 29, 2013 in Detroit, Mich. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty)
Elton John performs at Joe Louis Arena on Nov. 29, 2013 in Detroit, Mich.

Update: Russian celebrity prankster Vladimir Krasnov claimed credit for the call Elton John said he received, telling the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that the pop star "immediately believed" he was speaking to Vladimir Putin.

Elton John says Russian President Vladimir Putin called him after the singer asked for a meeting to talk about gay rights.

Last week, the singer criticized an anti-gay Russian law and a suggestion by Putin last year that gay people prey on children. John told the BBC that he wanted a meeting to discuss Putin's "ridiculous" gay rights record.

On Tuesday, John posted on Instagram that he got a call. There was no word on whether the Kremlin had agreed to the meeting.

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/7nZYS2gGUW/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">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. @president_vladimir_putin @ejaf #lgbt #lgbtrights #ShareTheLove</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-09-14T15:11:26+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 8:11am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>'

John played in the Soviet Union in 1979 and regularly plays in Russia. He was in Ukraine last week and called for that country to improve its gay rights record, too.

This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.