The independent environmental news outlet Kedr has shut down after being labeled a foreign agent, its foundersaid Monday.Russias Justice Ministryadded Kedr to its list of foreign agents in November for spreading fake news about the government's environmental policies and distributing content of other foreign agents.Kedr has been closed since the beginning of the year because the people we had interviewed started receiving threats [that they would also be labeled] foreign agents, editor-in-chief Ivan Zhilin told the news website Mediazona.We cant implicate them, Zhilin was quoted as saying.Since itslaunch in the spring of 2022, Kedr has published investigative reports about wildfires, landfills and the negative environmentalimpacts of the U.S.-Soviet arms race.The outlets website currently leads to a page that reads the project has been shut down.Zhilin said part of Kedrs team would continue their work at another environmental news website,Smola, which was launched earlier last year.Kedr is among a rapidlygrowing list of non-profits and news outlets that haveclosed down after being branded foreign agents by the Russian government.Organizations and individuals designated as foreign agents are subject to rigorous auditing and labeling requirements.Hundreds of journalists, activists and civil society figures have been branded foreign agents in recent years amid the Kremlin's far-reaching crackdown on independent media and the opposition.