Ring row: Kremlin says U.S. Super Bowl ring was a gift to Putin

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a joint news conference with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, central London June 16, 2013. REUTERS/Anthony Devlin/Pool

LONDON (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin's opponents often brand him a "thief" at street protests. Now the Kremlin is dismissing an American football team owner's account of how the Russian president ended up with his diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring when they met eight years ago.

According to the New York Post, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the audience at a recent awards ceremony that he had intended only to show Putin the ring, worth more than $25,000, but that Putin had pocketed it.