Fitch withdraws ratings of 20 Russian regions and cities

MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - Fitch has withdrawn the ratings of 20 Russian regions, the international ratings agency said in a statement.

Ratings were withdrawn for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, the Moscow Region, Novosibirsk Region, Sverdlovsk Region, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Kirov Region, Yaroslavl Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Orenburg Region, Lipetsk Region, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Krasnoyarsk Region, Altay Region, Stavropol Region, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Mari El, Bashkiria and Tatarstan, the agency said.

At the time of withdrawal the long term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings of the regions were at "C" level.

On March 23 Fitch announced its intention to withdraw the ratings of all Russian entities and their subsidiaries by April 15.

As reported, under the fourth package of sanctions, adopted by EU countries on March 15, 2022, European agencies are banned from issuing ratings for Russia, government agencies and Russian companies, as well as from providing rating services to Russian clients.