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U.S. President Donald Trump grudgingly signed into law new
sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, a move Moscow said
amounted to a full-scale trade war and an end to hopes for
better ties with the Trump administration.
The sanctions will affect a range of Russian industries and
might further damage Russia's economy, already weakened by a
drop in oil prices and U.S. and European sanctions imposed in
2014 after the annexation of Crimea.
"Our outlook for Russia remains unchanged," S&P said, adding it
expects the economy to return to growth this year thanks to
higher oil and gas prices.
"At the moment, it is unclear whether the new U.S. sanctions
bill will further hamper what we currently regard as only modest
medium-term economic growth prospects for Russia, since much
will depend on how the bill will be implemented," S&P said.
S&P, which is set to review its Russian ratings on Sept. 15,
told Reuters last month that the outlook for the sovereign
credit rating was clouded by the prospect of more sanctions.
S&P has Russia's long-term foreign-currency rating one notch
below investment grade at BB+, but revised its outlook on Russia
to positive from stable in March.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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