Stephen Colbert appears on Russian TV to 'announce' 2020 presidential run

The late night TV show host 'thought it would be better to cut out the middleman'

Stephen Colbert went on a Russian late night television programme to "announce" his 2020 US presidential bid.

The host of the "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" sat in the guest chair with Ivan Urgant, host of "Evening Urgant" and the pair chatted through an interpreter.

While playing a game involving shots of vodka, Mr Colbert interrupted to confirm the show would not be broadcast in the US.

“I am here to announce that I am considering a run for president in 2020. And I thought it would be better to cut out the middleman and just tell the Russians myself," Mr Colbert said to applause.

He also offered the audience a chance to work on his campaign "in an unofficial capacity".

The whole stunt was in line with Mr Colbert's daily routine of poking fun of and criticising at Donald Trump.

Trump campaign aides, including son-in-law Jared Kushner, are under investigation by the Senate, House, FBI, and a special prosecutor for alleged ties to Russia and possible collusion on the 2016 US election.

Mr Trump is also reportedly under investigation by special prosecutor Bob Mueller for obstruction justice for his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey before the President fired him.

Mr Comey testified that he felt Mr Trump ordered him to "let go" of the investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.

Immediately following Mr Comey's unexpected sacking the President took to his preferred medium of communicating with the public. He tweeted that Mr Comey "better hope" there were no "tapes" of their conversations, implying there was evidence to refute any claims Mr Comey made in official memos about the conversations he had with the President.

He then back-tracked on 22 June, tweeting that he had no knowledge of whether there were such "tapes". Mr Colbert took the opportunity to respond.

It was also a jab at the reports during the 2016 election that Mr Trump was under surveillance during his previous visits to Russia as a businessman and that there were recordings of his dalliances with prostitutes.

Mr Colbert joked that Mr Urgant during his appearance on the show and said he "look[s] forward to going back to America and testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee about colluding with Russia" since the show is on a state-owned channel.

“I don’t understand why no members of the Trump administration can remember meeting you," he said referring to Trump campaign officials who have repeatedly said they cannot recall if they met people like Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak.

As host of the erstwhile "Colbert Report" programme he played an exaggerated conservative character who actually launched presidential campaigns in 2007 and 2012 in his home state of South Carolina. Though he dropped out of the race both times, he received 6,000 votes in 2012 putting him ahead of candidates Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman.