08/21/1998 15:22:59 Moody's cuts Russia's country ceiling ratings

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service cut

Russia's country ceiling for foreign currency debt to B3 from B2

and Russia's country ceiling for foreign currency bank deposits

to Caa3 from Caa1, the U.S. rating agency said on Friday.

At the same time, Moody's cut Russia's local currency debt

country ceiling to Ca from Caa1.

The rating agency said the outlook on all the ratings is

negative.

As a result of the downgrade of Russia's foreign currency

country ceiling, Moody's also cut ratings on Russian Federation

Eurobonds to B3 from B2.

Foreign currency bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance of

the Russian Federation, which are popularly known as "MinFins"

or "Taiga" bonds, have been downgraded to Caa1 from B2, Moody's

said.

Moody's also cut the Russian Federation's

rouble-denominated debt instruments to Ca from Caa1.