The Rocket Man star revealed last weekend (12-13Sep15) that he was still hopeful of landing a meeting with the world leader to discuss the country's tough anti-gay laws, after a similar request last year (14) was snubbed.

On Monday (14Sep15), the British superstar claimed he had finally had a chance to chat to Putin after the politician personally reached out to him, and he shared the news on Instagram.com, writing, "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."

However, fans were left confused on Tuesday (15Sep15) after Putin's representative, Dmitry Peskov, insisted no such conversation had taken place.

Speaking to the Russian press, Peskov said, "Putin did not have a conversation with Elton John, and, what's more, we have not received any requests from him for a meeting."

He added, "The president has always been open to discuss human rights issues. The president, I'm sure, will be ready to meet with Elton John, too, if there is such a request."

Now the truth behind the mystery has finally come out - and it appears Elton had been fooled by another Vladimir, TV show host Vladimir Krasnov and his partner Alexei Stolyarov.

The local stars, known professionally as Vova and Lexus, reveal they were the ones behind the fake presidential phone call, which they plan to broadcast on Russian TV on Wednesday night (16Sep15).

Krasnov tells Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, "Alexei has great English, so he introduced himself as Dmitry Peskov (Putin's spokesman) and translated our conversation. I was Vladimir Putin."

Explaining why they decided to pull the prank on Elton, he explained, "We think that Putin is unlikely to want, at least in the near future, to meet with him and to call, but it turned out that Elton John was waiting for that call, so (he) immediately believed in the reality of a conversation with the people that we represent. He said: 'Thank you. You made my day.'"

The singer has yet to comment on the revelation.