Apple has allegedly filed a patent for the term iWatch in Russia, Digital Spy said.

Russian newspaper Izvestia (via 9to5Mac) claims to have heard that the Cupertino firm has moved to register the trademark with the country's patent office Rospatent.

The report has added fuel to rumours that Apple is working on a smartwatch powered by the iOS operating system, though the company has remained tight-lipped regarding its future hardware plans.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was coy when addressing the possibility of his company entering the wearable tech sector, describing such products as "profoundly interesting".

He said at last month's AllThingsD conference: "There are a lot of things to solve in this space. It is an area for exploration. It is ripe for getting excited about. There are a lot of companies in the space."

Numerous other tech companies, including Samsung, Google and LG, are also believed to be developing smartwatches