The agency's actions are rather neutral in relation to Sberbank, believes BCS analyst Yulia Safarbakova: "On the bond market, the long-term rating of unsecured debt is taken as the base rating, and Sberbank's is already at the level of the sovereign. So the change in currency deposit ratings should be perceived rather as a methodological nuance."

Moody's has lowered Russia's country ceiling to the level of the sovereign rating: for foreign currency bonds - from A3 to Baa2, for foreign currency deposits and short-term currency deposits - from Baa2 and Prime-2 to speculative levels Ba1 and Not Prime (NP), respectively, the agency's website reports. The rating ceiling for ruble bonds and deposits has been lowered from A3 to Baa1, short-term currency bonds have been left at Prime-2. "This decision is not a rating action and does not affect Russia's sovereign rating Baa2, the outlook is "negative," Moody's said in its comments.

The ceiling defines the maximum rating level available to the country's debt issuers, and Moody's decision to downgrade the ratings of foreign currency bonds and deposits is due to the risk, albeit very small for now, that Russian organizations will not be able to obtain currency to service their obligations, including in connection with the ongoing pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves, the report says. The agency also expresses concerns that the state and regulators may prevent non-state borrowers from repaying foreign currency debts in the event of a government default on its own debts. A request to the Finance Ministry sent yesterday evening remained unanswered.

The other Big Three agencies are not planning similar actions. "Our agency has already lowered the country ceiling for Russia on July 25, the next review of Russian ratings is scheduled for January 30," a Fitch representative commented. "We have a negative outlook on the Russian sovereign rating - as far as I know, that's all for now," says Sergey Voronenko, deputy director of the Financial Institutions Ratings Group at Standard & Poor's (S&P). Yesterday evening, S&P announced that it had placed Russia's sovereign ratings on a downgrade.

Moody's lowered Russia's sovereign ratings in October, later than other international agencies. "The ceiling is usually higher than or equal to the sovereign, and the fact that Moody's waited six months to lower the ceiling to the sovereign level is rather strange," says Mikhail Miroshnichenko, managing director of Kazimir Partners. "For Russian companies, this is offensive, but not fatal." Transneft and Sberbank previously had ratings higher than the sovereign, but their ratings were lowered during the year.

The only thing that will be affected by Moody's decision is the ratings of Sberbank's foreign currency deposits, which have remained at Baa2 and Prime-2 so far. "This is not a small thing, but I don't know a single person who would focus on this," explains Miroshnichenko. "This is a general downward trend - everyone already has a negative outlook for Russia."

"Someone, of course, may react to Moody's actions, but there will be no large-scale dumping of Russian securities with a probability of 99%," Miroshnichenko sums up. "This is just another signal to investors, an unpleasant event, but large-scale actions by large funds on this matter are unlikely."

A Sberbank representative declined to comment.

Russia's ceiling has been leveled