Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots American football team, said that the Russian president took his diamond-encrusted Super Bowl winner’s ring at a business gathering in St Petersburg in 2005.

Put a ring on it: Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft while holding Kraft’s diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring in 2005. Kraft says Putin was taken with its uniqueness. Pic/AFP