National Football League

Kraft says Putin took Super Bowl ring

Published Jun. 15, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Wonder if this move is covered by the Patriot Act.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft unveiled international intrigue and perhaps a covert cover-up on Thursday when he claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin actually stole his 2005 Super Bowl ring.

According to the New York Post’s Page 6 column, during Thursday night’s Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence gala at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Kraft contradicted his own previous take when he claimed that Putin took the ring.

Although he wanted it back, the White House got involved – and Putin kept it. Putin has since refuted this claim.

The article explains that Kraft said the incident involving the $25,000, diamond-encrusted ring took place in 2005 when several business executives were in St. Petersburg.

“I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’ ” Kraft reportedly said. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Although he issued a statement at the time saying that he had given Putin the ring “as a symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people and [his] leadership,” Kraft diverged from that on Thursday.

According to the Page 6 report, at the time he had an interaction with the George W. Bush-led White House over the incident.

He was told by the White House, “‘It would really be in the best interest of US-Soviet relations if you meant to give the ring as a present.”

“I really didn’t [want to]. I had an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it,” Kraft said. “I don’t want to see it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the voice repeated, ‘It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’ ”

The ring is now reportedly kept in the Kremlin library.

It’s a good thing Kraft did not hand Putin the Lombardi Trophy.