Vladimir Putin put on Robert Kraft’s 2005 Super Bowl ring, said he could kill somebody with it, placed the ring in his pocket and walked away with KGB guys in tow. That’s the bizarre story Robert Kraft is telling today, eight years after the incident.
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The two met in St. Petersburg in 2005 at a meeting for business executives. After sharing a handshake a few brief words, Kraft offered the ring up as a “show-and-tell” piece. Putin took that as an opportunity to pull off the heist.
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.’ ” The ring is now reportedly kept in the Kremlin library.
This Thomas Crown-esque theft needs to be made into a movie. Preferably ASAP.
The role of Vladimir Putin will be played by Christoph Waltz. The role of Robert Kraft by William Shatner. And the role of girl in desperate need of a movie part because she’s Robert Kraft’s girlfriend will be played by, Robert Kraft’s girlfriend.