MOSCOW, Russia - Russia's justice ministry on Friday classified former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who left Russia to denounce the offensive in Ukraine, as a "foreign agent".

The name of Kasyanov, who was the first head of President Vladimir Putin's government in the early 2000s, now appears in the justice ministry's register of "foreign agents", a term reminiscent of the Soviet-era "enemy of the people".

The ministry accused Kasyanov of having "opposed the special military operation in Ukraine" and of being "a member of the Russian Anti-War Committee, an association whose activities are aimed at discrediting Russian foreign and domestic policy".

This "committee", with very limited activities, was set up abroad last year by several Russian opponents of the government, including exiled ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Kasyanov was Putin's prime minister during his first years in power, from 2000 to 2004, but then became highly critical of the Russian president.

In June 2022, he told AFP that he no longer recognised the Putin with whom he had worked, saying he hoped Russia would one day return to a "democratic path".

Before the offensive in Ukraine, Kasyanov headed the People's Freedom Party (PARNAS), a small liberal group.

He announced in June 2022 that he had left Russia.

The status of "foreign agent" imposes heavy administrative constraints on the person or entity concerned, including regular checks on their sources of funding.

It also makes it compulsory for any publication, including on social networks, to carry the "foreign agent" label.

The Russian government has stepped up its repression of all dissident voices since launching its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.

Almost all major opposition figures are now in prison or in exile.