According to the Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, Russia’s reaction to the international rating agencies’ actions can be not only verbal. Moscow says the agencies’ decisions are based on factors of a political character.
Sergei Storchak commented on the recent decision of reputable rating agency Moody’s which cut the sovereign rating of Russia following Standard and Poor’s. He said that Russia may refuse contracts with the rating agencies. It is necessary to take a break. However, he did not specify whether it concerned all three international agencies or only some of them.
It should be noted that earlier Moody’s decision was commented by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Minister’s statement was rather rude but it did not contain any conclusions of further cooperation with the rating agency.
"I view Moody's judgment as not only extremely negative but also as based on an extremely pessimistic outlook, which has no analogues today. I think when deciding on a downgrade, the agency was guided primarily by political factors,” said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
