Moscow uses the label, heavy in Soviet-era connotations, on Kremlin critics to silence dissent.

The Russian Justice Ministry included the "Put Domoy" movement, which has organised women-led protests in Moscow to bring mobilised men back from Ukraine, in its list of "foreign agents".

Put Domoy has been made up of wives of Russian men mobilised to fight in Ukraine.

The justice ministry said it had worked to create a "negative image" of Russia and the Russian army and called for illegal protests.

Moscow also included Yekaterina Duntsova, who had tried to run against President Vladimir Putin in a March presidential election, as a "foreign agent".

Duntsova, who had filed documents to register in the race as an independent candidate, had campaigned on a platform of ending the Ukraine offensive.

She was slapped with the "foreign agent" tag more than two months after the vote, which saw Putin cruise to a fifth term in office unchallenged by any meaningful opposition.

Russia also labelled the media project SOTA, one of the few independent media reporting from Russia, a "foreign agent".

It said the media had criticised the Ukraine offensive and that its employees included "foreign agents" living abroad.

Russia has hugely cracked down on dissent since sending troops to Ukraine in February 2022.