Standard & Poor is predicting that the Russian economy will expand at an annual rate of 1% a year between 2014 and 2017. “This muted growth is partly a legacy of the structural economic slowdown that was already taking place before the Ukraine crisis. It also reflects a lack of external financing and lower oil prices,” the agency said. It also confirmed Russia’s’BBB-/A-3′ long-and short-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings, its ‘BBB/A-2’ long-and short-term local currency sovereign credit ratings, and its ruAAA long-term national scale rating. ITAR-TASS