Russia's sovereign rating may be raised, however the possible expansion of US sanctions may deter the upgrade, the director in Fitch Ratings' Sovereigns group Erich Arispe said.
"Of course, the decision made on Friday shows there’s a very high probability that the Russian rating will be upgraded," Arispe told Bloomberg.
He added the analysis by the US Congress on the impact of the possible sanctions’ expansion on Russia's government debt and derivatives makes Fitch "think about the consequences.”
According to Fitch, it is necessary to assess how any decision on public debt affects inflation, macroeconomic stability and, most importantly, the "financial flexibility of a sovereign debt."
Last week, Fitch has upgraded Russia’s sovereign credit rating from "stable" to "positive." It also predicted that economic growth will be slow and oil revenues will not rise to the heights of the early 2010s for some time.
