The Russian credit-rating outlook was cut to "negative" from "stable" by Standard & Poor's, which said Thursday the economy is threatened by Western sanctions over its effort to annex Ukraine's Crimea region. S&P reaffirmed Russia's credit rating of "BBB," the second-lowest investment grade. "The outlook revision reflects our view of the material and unanticipated economic and financial consequences that EU (European Union) and U.S. sanctions could have on Russia's creditworthiness following Russia's incorporation of Crimea," S&P said in a report. Specifically, "heightened geopolitical risk" and likely Western sanctions "could reduce the flow of potential investment, trigger rising capital outflows, and further weaken Russia's already deteriorating economic performance," S&P analysts said.
