Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Sunday that he stole New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft’s 2005 Super Bowl ring and insists the ring was a gift.
Kraft said he took out the ring to show it to Putin on a trip to St. Petersburg in 2005.
“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 Thursday, according to the New York Post. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
He said that when he demanded it back, then President George W. Bush told him to say it was a gift to avoid hurting U.S. relations with Russia. So he did, but, eight years later, is explaining the real story behind the incident.
The Russian president’s spokesperson said Sunday that’s just not what happened.
“What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird,” Dmitry Peskov said, according to CNN. “I was standing 20 centimeters away from him and Mr. Putin and saw and heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift.
The Super Bowl ring is currently in the Kremlin’s library with all the other official state gifts the president receives.
