MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday named nine US government-sponsored news outlets likely to be labelled “foreign agents” under a new law that is being rushed through parliament in response to what Moscow says is unacceptable US pressure on Russian media.

Russia’s lower house of parliament approved the law — allowing Moscow to force foreign media to brand news they provide to Russians as the work of “foreign agents” and to disclose their funding sources — on Wednesday.

The legislation needs approval from the upper house of parliament, which is likely to happen next week, and the signature of President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law.

The Russian Justice Ministry on Thursday published a list of nine US-backed news outlets that it said could be affected by the changes, which it said in a statement on its website were likely to become law “in the near future.” It said it had written to the US government-sponsored Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), along with seven separate Russian or local-language news outlets run by RFE/RL.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017