Prague/Moscow, 21 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which reports news to countries where it says media freedom is restricted, has been declared an "undesirable organization" in Russia, the US broadcaster said on Tuesday.

Russian media reports cited a corresponding entry on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

RFE/RL, which is a private, non-profit organization funded by the US Congress, produces the Russian-language radio programme Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) and the television channel Current Time from its base in Prague.

"This attempt to stifle us will only make RFE/RL work harder to bring free and independent journalism to the Russian people," RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said in a statement cited by the broadcaster.

In Russia, those cooperating with organizations having been labelled as "undesirable" risk high fines and even imprisonment.

Previously, RFE/RL had been declared a "foreign agent" by the Kremlin, a label given to individuals, media outlets and organizations who receive funding from abroad.

RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who holds dual Russian-US citizenship, is currently in pre-trial detention in Russia accused of not having registered as a "foreign agent," among other charges.

Radio Free Europe was founded in 1949 at the height of the Cold War and broadcast from Munich for decades. At the invitation of then Czech President Vaclav Havel, the radio station moved to Prague in 1995.

MIA file photo