Russian Duma passes 'foreign agent' bill aimed at media

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW

Russia’s State Duma -- lower house of parliament - on Wednesday passed a bill to introduce a "foreign agent" status for foreign media outlets.

The amendments were adopted with 409 votes out of 450. There were no votes against or abstentions.

The foreign media outlets will then be subject to some restrictions.

Moscow's move came after the U.S. Department of Justice demanded Russia's English-language television broadcaster RT to register as a foreign agent until Nov. 13 for playing a key role in what it termed an "influence campaign" aimed at undercutting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during last year's White House race.

RT on Tuesday registered as foreign agent in the U.S. “Between legal action and registration [as a foreign agent], we have chosen the latter,” RT’s chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement, later congratulating "the U.S. [for its] freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday told reporters that the law will allow Russia to "immediately and symmetrically" respond to the encroachment on the freedom of Russian media abroad.

Before the law comes into force, it has to be approved by the Federation Council -- upper house -- and signed by President Vladimir Putin.