Vladimir Putin, Robert Kraft and the case of the Super Bowl ring

So, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Vladimir Putin swiped his Super Bowl ring in 2005, charging that the Russian president pocketed the ring after Kraft let him hold it during a visit to that country.

Kraft was being honored at Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence gala on Thursday when he told the audience the following story:

“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,’ I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Kraft’s story went viral on the Internet, with many wondering why the Russian leader would want to steal the ring.

Even CNN got involved, asking a spokesman for Putin about the incident.

“What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird,” Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Sunday. “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 Patriots released a statement to NFL.com later Sunday attempting to explain everything:

“It’s a humorous, anecdotal story that Robert re-tells for laughs. He loves that his ring is at the Kremlin and, as he stated back in 2005, he continues to have great respect for Russia and the leadership of President Putin. In particular, he credits President Putin for modernizing the Russian economy.”

Of course, if you read the statement carefully, you’ll notice that at no time does it say the ring was a gift. Or that Putin didn’t steal it. All it says is Kraft loves that the ring is at the Kremlin.

So, the mystery really continues.

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