Oscar winning director Oliver Stone asked Vladimir Putin to be his 22-year-old daughter's godfather during a bizarre interview in which the Russian president admitted you 'can't refuse such a request'.
The Platoon director spoke to Putin on June 19 with material from the interview used in a Stone film about Ukraine.
In a transcript of the chat, released by the Kremlin on Friday, Stone, 72, asks Putin about his role as the godfather to the children of Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
When asked about Medvedchuk the Russian president, 66, replied: 'I would not say that we are very close but we know each other well.
'He was President Kuchma's Chief of Staff, and it was in this capacity at the time that he asked me to take part in the christening of his daughter.
'According to Russian Orthodox tradition, you can't refuse such a request.'
'Oh, you cannot refuse it? I thought it was a big honor for you to be the godfather of his daughter,' Stone replies, adding: 'Otherwise I would ask you to be the godfather for my daughter.'
Stone and Putin then discuss whether Tara Chong Stone would ever become an Orthodox Christian after the Russian president admits he is already godfather to several children.
Stone, who calls Putin a 'peacemaker' and 'an optimist', adds: 'We'll make her that [Orthodox].'
The pair spoke on June 19 with material from the interview used in a Stone film about Ukraine.
After discussing Putin becoming godfather to his adult daughter Stone then discusses what he calls the unhealthy culture of young America.
He says: 'As you know, I've been very rebel all my life. Still am. And I have to tell you, I'm shocked by some of the behaviors and the thinking of the new generation.
'It takes so much for granted. And so much of the argument, so much of the thinking, so much of the newspaper, television commentaries about gender, people identify themselves, and social media, this and that, I'm male, I'm female, I'm transgender, I'm cisgender.
'It goes on forever, and there is a big fight about who is who. It seems like we miss the bigger point.'
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He then probes Putin on a controversial 2013 Russian law banning 'homosexual propaganda' among minors, saying: 'It seems like maybe that's a sensible law.'
In the interview Putin also says he believes Russians and Ukrainians constitute one nation and that the countries should find a way to integrate.
Putin told the director: 'When these lands that are now the core of Ukraine joined Russia … nobody thought of themselves as anything but Russians.'
In light of this bond, Putin said 'we can use this as our competitive advantage during some form of integration'.
Conspiracy theorist Stone has interviewed Putin a number of times and has embraced anti-establishment views of history.
Putin also said he had 'sympathized' with Donald Trump before the 2016 presidential election that swept Trump to power because of his desire to restore normal relations with Russia in the interview.
But he said that any alleged Russian hackers were still not able to influence the vote's outcome. He reiterated that he had not and would not interfere in U.S. elections.
Putin said: 'And whichever our bloggers - I don't know who works there in the Internet - had expressed their point of view on the situation in the USA in this or that way, this had not been able to play a decisive role. This is nonsense.
'But we had sympathized with him (Trump), because he said that he wanted to restore normal relations with Russia. What's bad in this? And of course, we couldn't unwelcome such a position.'
This article has been adapted from its original source.
