Russian pollster labelled foreign agent

The Russian government has labelled independent pollster Levada Centre a foreign agent after it was accused of accepting money from a foreign government.

Russia's Justice Ministry has labelled the country's most esteemed independent pollster, Levada Centre, as a foreign agent, the Interfax news agency reports.

A non-governmental organisation is given the label when it accepts money from a foreign government and engages in political activity, according to Russia's 2012 law on foreign agents.

This not only jeopardises the public's trust in the pollster, it also threatens the organisation with fines and even closure.

The Justice Ministry said it discovered the need to label Levada Centre a foreign agent during a snap check initiated by a protest movement called Anti-Maidan.

Levada Centre's deputy directory Alexei Grazhdankin told Interfax that he hoped his organisation could rid itself of the label in the near future.

"We will reduce our number of contracts with foreign clients in the hope that this status will be removed," Grazhdankin said.

Levada Centre was formed in the early 2000s by researchers who had left the country's largest state pollster, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre.