MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers submitted legal amendments Tuesday that would allow the government to register international media outlets as foreign agents, a retaliatory move to a demand the United States made to a Russian television network.

The amendments, which could be voted on Wednesday, came after the Russian state-funded RT network registered with the US Justice Department as a foreign agent following pressure from the US government.

US intelligence agencies have alleged that RT served as a tool that the Kremlin used to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election. Russia has denied any interference.

Deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house, Pyotr Tolstoy, said the proposed amendments would give the Justice Ministry authority to register foreign media outlets as foreign agents.

Following the registration, the news outlets would be subject to requirements that already apply to foreign-funded nongovernmental organization under a 2012 law on foreign agents.

The law requests all groups that receive foreign funding and engage in vaguely defined political activities to register as foreign agents. Critics of the law have said the definition of political activity is so loose that it could be used against any nongovernmental organization.

The law was approved after a slew of massive anti-Kremlin protests in Moscow in 2011-2012. President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of instigating them.

At the same time, Putin has harshly criticized the US demand regarding the RT channel as an attack on freedom of speech. He said Russia would retaliate.

ASSOCIATED PRESS