A US journalist and author critical of President Vladimir Putin says he has been barred from Russia, a move that has echoes of the Cold War and could strain relations with the United States.

David Satter, a former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times who had been working in the Russian capital since September, said on Twitter that he had been refused permission to return after a trip to Ukraine last month.

His treatment could fuel concern about human rights before next month's Winter Olympics although it follows the release of the country's most famous prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and members of the Pussy Riot protest group.

Asked on Twitter about his treatment, Satter wrote: "Yes expelled. I was living in Moscow."

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the report.

Satter had been advising Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The U.S.-funded broadcaster said Satter's visa request had been denied and said that the US embassy had sought an explanation for Russian authorities without success.

It quoted Satter, who has written three books on Russia and the former Soviet Union, as saying he had been told by a Russian embassy official in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, that his presence was considered "undesirable".