'Resist': Russian opposition candidates rally media

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during an annual nationwide televised phone-in show in Moscow, Russia June 30, 2021. Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A dozen opposition candidates for Russia's September parliamentary election met scores of journalists in Moscow on Saturday with a message of resistance against the Kremlin's squeezing of independent media.

Authorities have designated nearly 50 journalists and media "foreign agents": a term they say denotes foreign-funded outlets with political bias but which critics denounce as a throwback to Soviet-style persecution.