FOXNews.com: KREMLIN CAPER? Putin Denies He Stole Pats Owner's Super Bowl Ring

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KREMLIN CAPER? Putin Denies He Stole Pats Owner's Super Bowl Ring Jun 17th 2013, 12:58 FILE - In this June 25, 2005, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring belonging to New England Patriots NFL football team owner Robert Kraft during a meeting of American business executives at the 18th century Konstantin Palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia. When Putin arrived in London on Sunday, June 16, 2013, his spokesman was asked about a New York Post story quoting Kraft saying Putin pocketed his Super Bowl ring in 2005. Putin said hes happy to buy New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft another ring, but its absurd to suggest he stole the Super Bowl one. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) Russian President Vladimir Putin wants it made clear that he did not swipe New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring, but he'll reimburse him just the same. The 124-karat diamond ring, valued at $25,000 and reportedly now in a Kremlin library, made recent headlines when Kraft said the "gift" he made to Putin in 2005 was no gift at all. Speaking at an awards show last week, Kraft said he showed the ex-KGB agent the ring during a meeting in St. Petersburg, and Putin pocketed it. Kraft said at the time he hadn't meant to give the ring away, but said the White House urged him to treat it as a gift in the interest of international diplomacy, according to the New York Post. But when he resurrected his objections, starting a new firestorm, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said his boss will make things right. "If the gentleman is really experiencing such excruciating pain from his loss ... the president is ready to send him any other ring he can buy for that kind of money," Peskov said from London, where Putin met with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday. Kraft told an awards gala in New York on Thursday that Putin swiped the 124-diamond ring during a 2005 meeting in St. Petersburg. Kraft's account disputes the story he gave eight years ago when he said he handed the ring over 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 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." Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated Sunday that Kraft gave the ring willingly and witnessed the presentation with his own eyes. He dismissed Kraft's story as "weird." "If the gentleman is really experiencing such excruciating pain from his loss ... the president is ready to send him any other ring he can buy for that kind of money," Peskov said from London, where Putin met with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday. But Peskov, who said he witnessed the exchange, said Putin is no thief and Kraft's story was "weird." "Back in 2005, I stood behind the president's back and I saw how that ring was presented to him," Peskov told The Associated Press. "All that talk about some kind of pressure that was exerted on him (Kraft) should be the subject of a detailed talk with psychoanalysts, I think." Kraft told his version of the ring tale to an audience at Carnegie Hall's Medal of Excellence gala Thursday. "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, as quoted by the Post.  "I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out." Stacey James, a spokesperson for the Kraft Group, the holding company for Kraft's business ventures, including the Patriots, said Sunday that the Post article shouldn't be taken too seriously. "It's a humorous, anecdotal story that Robert retells for laughs," James said in a statement. "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."

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