An elderly Russian man has set himself on fire for a few seconds on Moscow's Red Square outside President Vladimir Putin's offices in the Kremlin.

An eye-witness said: "The flames were going for three or four seconds. Then a law enforcement official arrived at the scene and put them out."

The man, whose age is not yet known, did not suffer severe injuries and walked on his own to the ambulance that had rushed to the scene.

It was not immediately clear if he had made any political statements before setting himself on fire.

The vast Kremlin complex houses the administration and offices of Putin, who in May assumed his third term in office in the face of first major protests against his rule.

You can footage from those protests below: