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Robert Kraft's claim Putin pocketed Super Bowl ring a joke

"This is a funny, humorous story that Kraft likes to tell for fun," says Kraft's spokesperson

Robert Kraft, EPA/ITAR-TASS

Robert Kraft, EPA/ITAR-TASS

NEW YORK, June 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The claim of US businessman Robert Kraft that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin pocketed the Super Bowl ring was a joke. As said in a statement by the spokesperson of the billionaire, James Stacy, on Sunday, these words should not be taken too seriously.

"This is a funny, humorous story that Kraft likes to tell for fun,” said James Stacy. “He likes that the ring is kept in the Kremlin and, as he said in 2005, he admires Russia and Putin's presidency. In particular, he respects Putin for the modernization of the Russian economy ".

Earlier, Kraft claimed that Vladimir Putin has stolen the valuable ring eight years ago during their meeting in St. Petersburg. New York Post reported that then Kraft had worn a ring with diamonds worth 25 thousand dollars – a bijou specially made in honor of the victory of Patriots team in the Super Bowl. The magnate took off the ring and showed it to Putin. From the words of the billionaire, the Russian leader tried on the ring, said something like “you can kill someone with this” and put the ring in his pocket, then leaved, accompanied by guards.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that in 2005 he stood next to Putin when the American businessman himself gave the ring that wear the champions in American football to the Russian leader as a present. "I saw him giving the ring to the president, so the words that someone had pressured him are more a matter of detailed conversation with the psychoanalyst,” the spokesman told.

“I also know that if this gentleman feels really excruciating pain from the loss of the ring in 2005, the president is ready to send him some other ring, which he can buy for his own money,” Peskov added.

Interestingly, shortly after that meeting Kraft issued an official statement directly saying that the ring is a gift to Putin symbolizing respect. Now he claimed that he was forced to conceal the real motives of the story due to a phone call from the administration of then-president of the US George Bush Jr. and persistently asked not stir up controversy.

From the words of Peskov, now the ring is kept in the library of Kremlin, as other official presents.

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