Last weekend, we shared with you one of the most bizarre stories involving an NFL owner and an international politician that you will ever hear. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft claimed that Russian president Vladimir Putin stole his Super Bowl ring in 2005, after it had been previously believed that Kraft gave it to him as a gift.
“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 said at a gala on Friday. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
Not surprisingly, that is not the way Putin remembers it. On Friday, the Russian president said he had no recollection of taking the ring or even meeting Kraft, for that matter.
“You know, I do not remember either Mr. Kraft or the ring,” Putin said, according to the AFP. “They handed out some sorts of souvenirs.”
Ouch. But not to worry, Putin said he is willing to reimburse Kraft for the ring he claims was taken from him.
“But if it is such a valuable thing to Mr. Kraft and his team, I have a proposal,” he reportedly said with a smile. “We will ask our enterprises to craft a really good, noticeable thing — so it is clear that it is expensive, made of a good metal, with a rock — so that this jewel is passed on from generation to generation in the team whose interests Mr. Kraft represents. I think that this would be the most intelligent solution to such a difficult international problem.”
A ring passed through the Patriots organization that was hand-crafted by Vladimir Putin’s people? Sounds great to me. Take the deal, Kraft. Opportunities like this don’t come knocking very often.
