ST. PETERSBURG, June 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he had no recollection of the owner of an American football team who claimed that the Russian leader pocketed his Super Bowl ring.
In 2005, New England Patriots billionaire owner Robert Kraft said he handed Putin the 124-diamond ring as gift. But last week at an awards ceremony in New York, Kraft said the ring was not a gift and he would like to have it back. The next day, a Patriots spokesman said Kraft’s new statement was a joke.
The ring is estimated to be worth at least $15,000.
“I do not remember either Mr. Kraft or the ring,” Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “I remember some souvenirs were being given out.”
But, he added, “If it has such a great value for Mr. Kraft and his team, I will ask our enterprises to make a really good and remarkable” ring for him, “so that it is clearly visible that it is expensive and made of a good metal, and has a rock, for the item to be passed on from generation to generation.”
“That would be the smartest … solution to such a difficult international problem,” Putin added with a smile.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that he had personally witnessed Kraft willingly give the ring to Putin. He added that the ring was being stored in the Kremlin’s library.
