Kremlin coup: Eton schoolboys score a private meeting with Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has kept Queen Elizabeth and the Pope waiting but recently found time to meet a group of students from Britain’s elite Eton school, the Kremlin said Thursday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin held an hour-long audience with students from the school about a week ago.

He said a Russian Orthodox monk Archimandrite Tikhon, who acts as the president’s spiritual adviser, set up the meeting after giving a speech at the world-famous boarding school.

“It was an absolutely private visit by the boys and the meeting was not public,” Peskov told journalists, saying Putin took part in “an open discussion”.

“It was interesting for both the president and for the boys but it would be wrong to give more details as it really was a private conversation which was not intended to be publicised.”