Russia tells two U.S. news outlets they may be affected by new 'foreign agent' law: agencies

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Justice Ministry has notified Voice of America and a Russian unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that they might be affected by a new 'foreign agent' media law, Russian news agencies cited a ministry source as saying on Wednesday.

Russia's lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval earlier on Wednesday to a law giving Moscow the power to designate foreign media operating in Russia as "foreign agents" required to disclose where they get their funding and how they spend it.

A Prague-based spokeswoman for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said she was not aware of any such notification. Voice of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while calls to their office in Moscow went unanswered.

The Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Christian Lowe Writing by Denis Pinchuk; Editing by Andrew Osborn)