MAKING WAVES
Elton John said Tuesday that Vladimir Putin rang him up after the singer requested a meeting to discuss LGBT equality in Russia — but a spokeman for the Russian president said it never happened. “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 under a large photo of Putin. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, told Russian news agencies that the call never happened, the Associated Press reports. Even so, Peskov said, Putin would be willing to talk to John if John requested a meeting. The news comes just days after John met with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to discuss LGBT rights in what used to be the Soviet Union.