MOSCOW, March 20, 21:56 /ITAR-TASS/. The rating agency Standard&Poor’s on Thursday, March 20, changed Russia’s sovereign credit rating in local and foreign currency.

The agency revised its outlook from stable to negative due to “heightened geopolitical risk and the prospect of U.S. and EU economic sanctions following Russia's incorporation of Crimea”, which analysts say can reduce the flow of potential investment, trigger rising capital outflows, and further weaken Russia's already deteriorating economic performance.

S&P reaffirmed its ‘BBB/A-2’ foreign currency and ‘BBB +/A-2’ local currency long-and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Russia.