Who better to turn to when things are in a tight fix than someone who brings together the holy trinity of martial arts prowess, unparalleled acting skills and Buddhist calm?

Little surprise then, perhaps, that when Vladimir Putin needed someone to act as a bridge in his dealing with the pesky Americans that he suggested the veteran martial arts actor Steven Seagal. For some reason, American officials were said to be shocked by the idea.

This, at least, was the scenario outlined by Buzzfeed which has reported that several US officials had confirmed President Putin had made the suggestion to Barack Obama in June 2013 at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit.

Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama have had a testy relationship (Getty)

The website claimed that Seagal, 63, whose recent direct-to-video offerings have included Black Dawn, Belly of the Beast and Out of Reach, was proposed as an honorary consul. It said Mr Putin wanted to locate give him official status to act for Russia in Arizona and California and work as intermediary between the White House and the Kremlin.

Seagal has Russian roots and his grandmother’s family is from the city of Vladivostok.

Reports say he has connections with Russia’s political and security establishment and met Mr Putin in Moscow several months before the meeting between the Russian and US leaders in Northern Ireland. Last year Seagal told the Moscow Times he considered the Russian president “a brother”.

Alas, it was not to be. “Our reaction was ‘You’ve got to be kidding’,” a US official who was present at the Lough Erne meeting told BuzzFeed.

The White House, the US State Department and Seagal have all declined to comment on the claim. Mr Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also said he was unaware of the incident.

However, he confirmed the friendship between Mr Putin and Seagal and said it was completely normal.