WASHINGTON — The U.S. Labor Department has listed Russian pornography as a product that might involve “forced or indentured child labor” in its manufacture.

This week, the department published an updated list of 29 products from certain countries where federal contractors must provide certification that they were not produced by children. Along with carpets from Nepal and Pakistan, diamonds from Sierra Leone and rice from Burma, India and Mali, the list includes pornography from Russia — and no other country.

The Moscow Times queried the Labor Department on why a federal contractor might be supplying the government with pornography from Russia — or anywhere else. The newspaper said it had received no answer by late Tuesday.

Pavel Astakhov, the Russian children’s ombudsman, said both Russia and the United States are major producers of child pornography. He suggested the United States is trying to crack down on the sexual exploitation of children.

“That’s why they gave such a broad definition — so nothing will be able to go through,” Astakhov told the Times.