Vladimir Putin stole my Super Bowl ring, Robert Kraft says

Talk about lost in translation.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told an audience Thursday night that Russian President Vladimir Putin stole his Super Bowl ring.

It was the good one, too, from Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 when the Pats beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.

It happened while Kraft and other American executives toured Russia after the team’s NFL championship season.

Putin greeted the execs during a stop in St. Petersburg, the New York Post reported:

“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 the 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.”

Left empty-handed, Kraft concocted a story then that said he bestowed the ring to Putin as a “symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people.”

“I have ancestors from Russia, so it added significance for me to know that something so cherished would reside at the Kremlin along with other special gifts given to Russian presidents,” Kraft said then, according to Boston's WEEI radio.

The truth came out this week, however, that Kraft called the George W. Bush administration looking for help.

They suggested it would be beneficial to everyone if Kraft swallowed the $25,000, 4.94-carat diamond ring.

When asked about the ring row, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sunday in London that Kraft needs psychological help.

He spoke to media before Putin met British Prime Minister David Cameron on the eve of a G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

"I was standing right behind the president, and I saw how he was given the ring," Peskov said, adding if Kraft believes the White House pressured him to keep quiet, it is "an issue for a detailed discussion with psychoanalysts."

Not wanting to hurt Kraft's feelings, however, Peskov said Russia would look into reparations.

"This gentleman is experiencing such agonizing pain from the loss that occurred in connection with an act of trust in 2005," Peskov said, according to Reuters.

"The president will be ready to send him as a gift some other ring, which he can buy with his own money."

Rumor has it the Super Bowl ring sits on display inside the Kremlin library.

Reuters contributed to the report.