Russian president: I did not steal Super Bowl ring

Moscow (CNN) -- The Russian president is fighting back: no, he did not steal a Super Bowl ring. And no, he's not rocking the diamond-encrusted prize on his finger, either.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman denied accusations that the leader pocketed a Super Bowl ring that belonged to the New England Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft.

The alleged swipe occurred during Kraft's visit to St. Petersburg in 2005.

"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, according to the New York Post. "I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out."

Kraft made the comments at an awards gala Thursday night in New York City.

But the president's spokesman had a different take.

No way. Never happened, according Dmitry Peskov.

"What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird," Peskov said. "I was standing 20 centimeters away from him and Mr. Putin and saw and heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift."

The ring is in the Kremlin's library where all official state gifts are kept, he said. The New England Patriots declined to comment Saturday.

Kraft said when he returned to the United States and demanded his ring back, the White House asked him to claim it was a gift to Putin to avoid souring relations with Russia, according to the Post. The White House has not responded to the allegations.

As a patriot, he says, he played along.

Not anymore.

Source: CNN