Washington: RT, a Moscow-headquartered website and television channel that the US government says is a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin, will register with US authorities as a foreign agent, its editor said Thursday.

The registration follows a months-long back-and-forth between RT and the Justice Department over whether it was required by US law to register as an agent of the Russian government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and RT's Editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan in Moscow, Russia. Credit:AP

"The American Justice Department has left us with no choice,'' RT's editor in chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement posted on the organisation's website. "Our lawyers say that if we don't register as a foreign agent, the director of our company in America could be arrested, and the accounts of the company could be seized. In short, in this situation the company would not be able to work. Between those consequences and registering as a foreign agent, we are forced to choose registration.''

She added: "We will continue to work and continue to fight this as long as it's possible.''