MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Thursday called a U.S. decision to withdraw the Congressional press credentials of Russia’s RT broadcaster because of its status as “a foreign agent” in the United States an unfriendly step.

Kremlin-backed RT on Wednesday night published a letter from the Executive Committee of the Congressional Radio And Television Correspondents Gallery saying the channel’s Congressional press credentials had been withdrawn due to its registration as a foreign agent in the United States.

That means RT’s reporters will not be able to have as much access to Congress as other foreign media.

“It is a very unfriendly step. We are deeply disappointed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.

The United States decided to designate RT as a foreign agent in retaliation for what Washington described as Russia’s attempts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, something Moscow has repeatedly denied.

In response, Russia introduced its own law allowing it to designate U.S. and other foreign media as foreign agents.

Peskov said that the Russian parliament might give an emotional response to the new Congressional restrictions on RT.