Russia has added the Committee Against Torture, a nongovernmental organization founded in 2000 to advocate for investigations into allegations of torture, to its registry of so-called foreign agents.

The Russian Ministry of Justice entered the Committee Against Torture to its updated list on June 10.

First passed in 2012, Russia's foreign agent legislation initially targeted NGOs and rights groups accused of conducting foreign-funded political activities.

It has since been expanded to punish media organizations, individual journalists, YouTube vloggers, and many other perceived opponents alleged to have even indirect ties to outside funding.

Under the law, those designated as foreign agents must comply with numerous constraints and laborious procedures, including indicating their foreign agent status in all their publications, under threat of severe sanctions.

The Committee Against Torture has fought for investigations into allegations of mistreatment at the hands of the security forces, including in Chechnya.

The organization had already been designated as a foreign agent in 2015 and again the following year but dissolved itself and reformed to try and avoid the label.

With reporting by AFP