it was a gift!

Russian president gets Super gift from Patriots owner
June 30, 2005
BOSTON (AP) -- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft says he likes the way Vladimir Putin is quarterbacking Russia -- and that's why he gave him his diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring.
Kraft was among a group of U.S. business executives who met with the Russian president Saturday at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg. Near the end of the meeting, Kraft took off the ring and handed it to Putin. Putin tried it on, put it in his pocket and left, according to Russian news reports.
``I showed the president my most recent Super Bowl ring,'' Kraft said in a statement Wednesday. The Russian president ``was clearly taken with its uniqueness,'' Kraft said.
``At that point, I decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people and the leadership of President Putin,'' Kraft said.
According to Patriots spokesman Stacey James, the ring -- which is encrusted with 124 diamonds -- has a value of ``substantially more'' than $15,000.
Before Kraft issued his statement, reports in the U.S. media -- first by The New York Sun and then by The Boston Globe and The Associated Press -- had questioned whether the Patriots owner had intended to give the ring to Putin as a present.
A senior Kremlin official, Dmitry Peskov, told The Associated Press that Putin had given the ring to the Kremlin library where other foreign gifts are kept.
Kraft's business interests include paper and packaging companies and venture capital investments. He handed out Super Bowl rings to players and coaches at his home two weeks ago.