Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin announced on Monday that Russia will stop paying its annual financial contributions to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“We have no reason to pay for something we do not participate in. And if they don’t let us work this year, we will ask to return the previously paid contributions,” Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on the website of the State Duma, reports EFE and Agerpres.

The decision to suspend the payment of the contribution was made by the Council of the Duma, which accused Russia of boycotting the activities of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Moscow accused this international organization and others of supporting Ukraine and the West in the military conflict, which was provoked by Russia’s attack on Ukraine last February.

Russia has also stopped paying dues to the Council of Europe, an organization it withdrew from last March under threat of expulsion.

Volodin also announced on Monday that the State Duma is preparing amendments to the legislation on banning the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which last month issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow warned at the time that the hypothetical arrest of the head of the Kremlin would be tantamount to a “declaration of war.”

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