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Senior Russian legislator says Moody’s ratings not trustworthy

MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. The chief of the Russian State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, Aleksei Pushkov sees political motives behind the latest decision by the international rating agency Moody’s to lower Russia’s credit rating to the speculative level.

"One has the impression that Moody’s ratings are authored either by Senator McCain or by Joe Biden. It all looks so politically charged that just cannot be trusted," Pushkov tweeted on Saturday.

On Friday, Moody’s revised Russia’s sovereign credit rating one step down from Baa3 to Ba1, outlook negative.

Moody’s is the second rating agency to have lowered Russia’s rating to speculative of late. On January 26 Standard and Poor’s revised Russia’s long-term foreign currency-denominated liabilities rating to BB+ from the investment level BBB-.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has described Moody’s decision as "overly negative" and based on an extremely pessimistic, unparalleled forecast. Siluanov, too, believes that in making the decision the agency relied on political considerations first and foremost.