A court in Moscow has fined the independent national pollster Levada Center for refusing to register as a "foreign agent."
The court ruled on October 26 that the Levada Center had to pay a fine of 300,000 rubles ($4,800).
Lev Gudkov, the head of the Levada Center, said he will appeal the ruling.
In September, Russia's Justice Ministry branded the pollster a foreign agent.
The Levada Center is one of Russia’s largest nongovernmental polling and research organizations. It has published surveys that have irked Russian authorities.
A Russian law adopted in 2012 requires any nongovernmental organization that receives funding from abroad and engages in political activity to formally register as a "foreign agent."
Russian and international human rights organizations have said the law was introduced to silence independent voices.
