Russia's President Vladimir Putin has warned against foreign meddling in Russian politics and criticised opposition politicians of being in the pay of foreign interests.

"Direct or indirect meddling in our internal political process is unacceptable," Putin said in his annual state of the nation address on Wednesday.

Putin, who last year accused the United States of encouraging opposition protests and claimed foreign governments spend money to seek to influence elections, said Russians receiving money from abroad should be barred from politics.

"A politician who receives money from beyond the borders of the Russian Federation cannot be a politician on its territory," added Putin.

The state of the nation speech is the first by Putin since winning a third term in March's election despite a wave of massive protests in Moscow.

In July, Putin signed a bill forcing foreign funded non-governmental groups involved in political activity to register as "foreign agents" in Russia.

Sergai Strokan, a staff writer for the Russian newspaper Kommersant told Al Jazeera that "Putin's speech was telling the opposition to think twice before they hit the streets in protest as they are now labelled as foreign agents."