Did Vladimir Putin Call Elton John?

Sir Elton John turned to social media to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for a phone call that he claimed the leader made, a call Putin's spokesman denied.

John announced the conversation on Instagram.

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 photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Sep 14, 2015 at 8:11am PDT

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov twice told reporters the call never happened, according to BuzzFeed, which reported he did not rule out the possibility that Putin might meet the singer "at some point."

Putin, Peskov told the Russia Today website, has always "been and remains open to discuss any of the human rights issues, any questions, he is always ready to explain the real situation. Often, people simply do not have the exact knowledge of what is happening in our country and in fact the victims of varied information exaltation.

"I have no doubt that if such a wish, the President will be ready to meet, including Elton John, in order to provide answers to all the questions that he can deliver. But we are such signals are not received."

John isn't the only one concerned about Russian gays and lesbians these days. Sam Smith also took to Instagram to support Russia's LGBT population, as reported by our sibling Out magazine.

As The Advocate reported over the weekend, John announced on a visit to Ukraine that he would like to meet with Putin to encourage him to improve the situation in his nation. He also urged Ukrainian business and political leaders to foster a better climate for that nation's LGBT citizens.