Patriots owner Robert Kraft takes dig at Vladimir Putin over stolen Super Bowl ring: "Give me my f**king ring back"
Robert Kraft has six Super Bowl titles — XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, and LIII. However, the story goes that he lost the XXXIX ring while visiting Russia in 2005.
What happened, as documented on the Apple TV docuseries The Dynasty, was that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to try on the ring; and the owner of New England Patriots acquiesced. But afterward, instead of returning the ring, Putin pocketed it and left.
The ring is on display at the Kremlin's library, and Kraft still has an emotional attachment to it. Speaking on Sunday's Netflix roast of Tom Brady, he said:
“IN CASE YOUR WATCHING VLADIMIR PUTIN, GIVE ME MY F****ING RING BACK”
How Robert Kraft lost Super Bowl ring to Vladimir Putin: An account
It was 2005.
Robert Kraft was among a delegation sent to Russia to bolster its relations with the US, especially in commerce and trade. The group met Vladimir Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace in the outskirts of St. Petersburg. There, Sandy Weill, then-president of Citigroup, suggested that Kraft show the strongman his Super Bowl ring.
The following events would intimidate Kraft to the point that he did not even bother asking for the ring back:
“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.’
“I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
Putin would allude to the incident at the Petersburg Economic Forum eight years later:
“You know, I do not remember Mr. Kraft, nor the ring. But if it’s like this – I remember that I was handed some souvenirs – if this is such a great value for Kraft and the respective team, I have a proposal.
“I will ask our factory to produce really good, significant, so we can see that this kind of thing is expensive and with good metal, and stone, so that this product can be passed from generation to generation of the team, which represents the interests of Mr. Kraft.”
That did not happen. In February 2014, Russia began its descent towards international pariah status by invading Crimea. Then eight years after that, it invaded Ukraine proper.