Wiggling his hips and side-stepping to the beat of 1990s pop hit American Boy, he hardly appears presidential.

Observers would also be forgiven for thinking they were watching an over-zealous wedding guest on the latest YouTube hit.

But the half-minute clip, which immediately went ‘viral’, in fact shows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev strutting his stuff on the dance-floor.

Sporting a fitted blue suit and open collar, Mr Medvedev is seen swaying rather awkwardly from foot to foot, kicking up his heels and clapping his hands along with other party guests.

His robotic moves have now been viewed by thousands around the world, sparking a plethora of comments – not all of them full of praise for the politician’s performance.

One Twitter user was less than overwhelmed, accusing Mr Medvedev or ‘dancing like my dad’ while another viewer commented: ‘Medvedev looks ridiculous! Hahahaha’.

Others were more forgiving, with one saying: ‘FANTASTIC! love him... kiss FOR MEDVEDEV!’

The clip, which was reportedly filmed at a university reunion last year, had drawn nearly 300 comments only hours after it was posted on the internet site. It has now clocked up more than 72,000 views.

Mr Medvedev, who has himself embraced social media and is an avid user of micro-blogging site Twitter, is considered to be more liberal and Western-leaning than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

But the 45-year-old, a lawyer by trade, is extremely close to the former KGB agent.

Considered an economic liberal, he formerly served Mr Putin as first deputy prime minister and was also chairman of Russia's massive state-run gas monopoly, Gazprom.

The son of a professor, he became an assistant professor in his own right at St Petersburg State University in the 1990s.