The Russian Justice Ministry on May 31 added Yekaterina Duntsova, who last year filed documents to register to run for president, to its list of so-called "foreign agents."
Duntsova announced in November 2023 that she was running for president on a platform of ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Duntsova, a journalist from the city of Rzhev and a former deputy of the Rzhev city council, has publicly appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine and spoken out against political repression in Russia.
The Central Election Commission in December refused to allow Duntsova to register her party and begin collecting signatures and campaigning. Duntsova believes that she was not allowed to participate for political reasons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin easily won a fifth term in office unchallenged by any meaningful opposition in the March 17 presidential election.
SEE ALSO: Anti-War Candidate Barred From Running Against Putin Briefly Detained By Russian PoliceEarlier this month Putin signed a law prohibiting "foreign agents" from running in elections at any level in Russia. That means Duntsova and others labeled "foreign agents" will no longer be able to officially participate in politics.
However, Duntsova said she would not give up on creating her own party that will put forth candidates who will be able to take part in elections.
"My status does not affect the party and its members in any way. Therefore, we will continue, we will prepare candidates for the Moscow City Duma and for other elections," she said on Telegram.
The Justice Ministry also on May 31 declared a women's organization that has been campaigning for the return of mobilized men as a "foreign agent."
The ministry addded the Put Domoy (The Way Home) movement, which has organized women-led protests in Moscow to bring mobilized men back from Ukraine, to its "foreign agent" list.
The Justice Ministry accused Put Domoy of working to create a "negative image" of Russia and the Russian Army and said it had called for illegal protests.
Wives of Russian men mobilized to fight in Ukraine make up the bulk of the organization's membership.
The register of "foreign agents," which Moscow has used to silence dissent, now also includes political strategist and human rights activist Marina Litvinovich and Pavel Ivanov, known as the blogger Partisan, and the publications Republic and Sota, one of the few independent media reporting from Russia.
Sota had previously been added to the register of so-called "undesirable organizations" by the Prosecutor-General's Office.
It said the news outlet had criticized the Ukraine offensive and that its employees included "foreign agents" living abroad.