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Those Krafty Russians!

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Hall of Fame
Putin said “I can kill someone with this,” took Kraft’s Super Bowl ring
In 2005, Patriots owner Robert Kraft joined several other American business leaders at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Putin left with Kraft’s Super Bowl ring. After questions arose about what happened, Kraft released a statement saying he had given Putin the ring as a present to show his respect for the people of Russia.

Now Kraft says that’s not exactly how it happened.

Kraft now says Putin took the ring without his permission, and that the George W. Bush White House urged him not to make an issue of the theft because of concerns about the incident damaging U.S.-Russian relations.

“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 at a speech this week, 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.”

Kraft said he intended to do whatever he could to get the ring back from Putin, until the White House urged him to let it go.

“I really didn’t [want to]. I had an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it,” Kraft said. “I don’t want to see it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the voice repeated, ‘It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’”
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The Cold War lives!:kitten:

[If this belongs in the NSZ, feel free to move]
 
Add thief to the list of adjectives that describe the bizarre comrade.

As for Kraft's ring ... that was during the years he and Belicheat were surreptitiously sending film crews out to opponents. Sorry if I'm not all broken up about Kraft losing a ring they didn't earn. Sometimes justice looks like a megalomaniacal dictator, I guess.
 
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed the real story behind a 2005 meeting with Vladimir Putin, during which the Russian president pocketed his Super Bowl ring, worth more than $25,000. Kraft, at the time, claimed the diamond-encrusted bauble was a gift, but he now admits Putin stole it, and the White House intervened when he demanded it back.
Kraft explained the incident happened while Sandy Weill and other business execs were in St. Petersburg. “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 told the crowd at Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence gala at the Waldorf-Astoria.“I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/kraft_putin_stole_bowl_ring_qtB16b5PI0jipYT6tQxUGO
What a Putin!
:tiphat:
 
You left the best part of the story out.

Kraft released a statement at the time, “President Putin, a great and knowledgable sports fan, was clearly taken with its uniqueness. I decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people and [his] leadership.

But Kraft really wanted the 4.94-carat bauble back, he said Thursday, admitting he’d gotten a call from the George W. Bush-run White House, saying, “‘It would really be in the best interest of US-Soviet relations if you meant to give the ring as a present.” (In fact the Soviet Union had collapsed 14 years earlier.)

But, Kraft said, “I really didn’t [want to]. I had an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it. I don’t want to see it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the voice repeated, ‘It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’ ”
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Wonder what would have happened to Kraft if he had pushed the issue?
 
I find it fairly unsurprising that Putin would be ballsy enough to pull a stunt like that. Of course it's despicable but almost like art in how brazen he is about it.
 
This is what, 7 or 8 years ago ? And it's just coming out now ? I think old codger Kraft is regressing into infantilism and just wants some attention, because back then he was too much of a wimp to apparently speak up to Putin (if his version of the story is accurate) ? I'd just shut up if I were Kraft.
 
IDEXAN said:
This is what, 7 or 8 years ago ? And it's just coming out now ? I think old codger Kraft is regressing into infantilism and just wants some attention, because back then he was too much of a wimp to apparently speak up to Putin (if his version of the story is accurate) ? I'd just shut up if I were Kraft.
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But now, after Patriots owner Robert Kraft explained that Russian president Vladimir Putin stole his Super Bowl ring and Putin’s spokesman claimed it was a gift, the Patriots have tried to put the matter to rest by conceding, apparently, that Kraft’s tale of being strong-armed for the trinket is shtick.

“It’s a humorous, anecdotal story that Robert re-tells for laughs,” a Patriots spokesman reportedly said. “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.”

So it sounds like Kraft doesn’t actually believe that Putin stole his ring. Or perhaps Kraft has Googled “Alexander Litvinenko.” Or maybe Kraft is aware of the army of Russian bears who can survive a direct impact from speeding cars.
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Vladimir Putin: I don't remember Robert Kraft or ring
"You know, I do not remember either Mr. Kraft or the ring," Putin said, via AFP. "They handed out some sorts of souvenirs. But if it is such a valuable thing to Mr. Kraft and his team, I have a proposal.

"We will ask our enterprises to craft a really good, noticeable thing -- so it is clear that it is expensive, made of a good metal, with a rock -- so that this jewel is passed on from generation to generation in the team whose interests Mr. Kraft represents.

"I think that this would be the most intelligent ... solution to such a difficult international problem."
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I always knew WWIII would start over something dumb, but damn never did i think it would be over the NFL. And to think everyone says the NFL is getting soft :kitten:
 
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