Both Fitch and Moody's on Wednesday downgraded Russia's sovereign credit rating by six notches to "junk" status, saying Western sanctions threw into doubt Russia's ability to service its debt and would weaken its economy.

Fitch downgraded Russia to "B" from "BBB" and placed the country's ratings on "rating watch negative." On the other hand, Moody's, which had flagged the possibility of a downgrade last week, also cut the country's rating by six notches, to B3 from Baa3.