普京否認竊取超級盃戒指

Russian President Vladimir Putinis denying insinuations that he stole New England Patriotsowner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ringthat's on display in the Kremlin, but says he's ready to buy him another ring as a gift.

Putin was reacting Sunday through a spokesman to a New York Poststory quoting remarks made by Kraft at an awards gala at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel last 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."

The diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring worth about $25,000 changed hands while Kraft was visiting St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005 with an American business delegation that met Putin. At the time, Kraft had said he gave the ring to Putin as a gift.

But the Post story quoted Kraft as saying at Carnegie Hall's Medal of Excellence gala that he had an "emotional tie to the ring" and wanted it back, but the White House intervened and said it would be in the interest of U.S.-Russian relations to claim it was a gift.

Putin arrived in London on Sunday to meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was asked about the Post story.

"Back in 2005 I stood behind the president's back and I saw how that ring was presented to him. 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," Peskov told The Associated Press.

"At the same time, I am aware that this gentleman (Kraft) is feeling such a horrible pain about the 2005 loss," Peskov said. "The president will be ready to send him another ring as a gift, which he (Putin) can buy with his own money."

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. "

The statement said "an added benefit from the attention this story gathered eight years ago was the creation of some Patriots fan clubs in Russia."

The Super Bowl ring is on display in the Kremlin library along with other gifts to the Russian leader, according to Peskov.

Kraft can take some consolation because he has two other Super Bowlrings given to him for his team's other NFL championships.美聯社17日報道，俄羅斯總統普京否認偷竊超級盃戒指，但準備爲原主另買一枚戒指，作爲禮物回贈給他。

《紐約郵報》最近報道稱，新英格蘭州愛國者隊老闆羅伯特·克拉夫特日前在一次活動上發表講話，稱其在2005年接受普京接見期間失去一枚價值昂貴的超級盃戒指。

克拉夫特說：“‘我拿出戒指給（普京）看。他戴上後走了，”，“我向他伸出手，他把戒指裝進了口袋，三個克格勃保鏢簇擁着他揚長而去。”

這枚鑲有鑽石的超級盃戒指約值2.5萬美元。2005年，克拉夫特隨同一個美國代表團得到普京的接見，當時克拉夫特說，他是把這枚戒指作爲禮物贈送給普京的。

但《紐約郵報》的報道引用克拉夫特的話稱他“對這枚戒指很有感情”，希望拿回戒指，但白宮介入說把這枚戒指稱作送給普京的禮物對美俄關係有利。

普京的發言人佩斯科夫6月16日對此表示：“2005年我就站在總統身後，我親眼目睹了戒指是怎麼交給他的。我想，他（克拉夫特）因爲壓力被迫交出戒指的所有說法，應該是心理分析專家談論的題目。”

“我知道這位先生（克拉夫特）對2005年失去這枚戒指感到極爲痛苦，”佩斯科夫說。“總統準備另送他一枚戒指作爲禮物，他（普京）可以用自己的錢買。”

斯泰西·詹姆斯是克拉夫特集團發言人，她在16日說，不應該把《紐約郵報》的文章太當真。

“這是一則幽默的逸聞趣事，羅伯特講給我們聽是爲了逗大家一笑，”詹姆斯在聲明中說。“他很高興他的戒指進入了克里姆林宮，正如他在2005年說過的那樣，他一直非常尊重俄羅斯和普京總統。他稱讚普京總統讓俄羅斯經濟現代化。”

這份聲明表示愛國者別有收穫——在俄羅斯建起了幾家粉絲俱樂部。

據佩斯科夫說，超級盃戒指現在與其他贈送給俄羅斯領導人的禮物一起在克里姆林宮圖書館裏陳列展出。

克拉夫特可以感到些安慰，因爲他的球隊贏得過另外兩次全美橄欖球聯盟杯賽，他還擁有兩枚超級盃戒指。