title: OSCE watchdog slams Unites States, Russia for "foreign agent" media laws
text: VIENNA (Reuters) - The OSCE s media watchdog said on Thursday moves by the United States and Russia to force some foreign media to register as  foreign agents  were unacceptable and dangerous. Russia s lower house of parliament this week approved a law allowing Moscow to force foreign media to describe news they provide to Russians as the work of  foreign agents  and to disclose their funding sources. Earlier on Thursday Russia named nine U.S. government-sponsored news outlets likely to be labeled  foreign agents . U.S. intelligence officials accuse the Kremlin of using Russian media organizations it finances to influence U.S. voters. Washington has required Russian state broadcaster RT to register a U.S.-based affiliate company as a  foreign agent .  Branding media entities as  foreign agents  is a dangerous practice, as it can narrow the space for freedom of the media,  said Harlem Desir, media freedom chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE, which also oversees election monitoring, is one of the few security forums which brings Russia and the United States to the same table. It has a 700-strong observer mission monitoring the conflict in Ukraine.  I call on both the Unites States and the Russian Federation to reconsider and refrain from requiring media entities to register as  foreign agents , Desir said in a statement, labeling both countries  moves as  not acceptable . The Kremlin denies meddling in the U.S. election and has said the restrictions on Russian broadcasters in the United States amount to an attack on free speech. The new media law in Russia is retaliation, it says. 