Russia on Tuesday announced its refusal to pay about 12.4 million dollars, a third of its annual payment to the Council of Europe due to restrictions imposed on it over the Ukraine conflict.

“The annual financing is paid in stages.

“The third remaining at the end of the year is not being transferred,’’ the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said in comments carried by state media.

Russia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, lost much of its fundamental authority, including its right to vote, in 2014 after Russia annexed neighbouring Ukraine’s Crimea region.

The Council of Europe, established to uphold human rights, democracy and rule of law in the continent, said Russia had repeatedly made similar threats before.

“Today is not the first time that we are reading this in the Russian press; however, we cannot confirm that the Russian authorities have informed the Council of Europe,’’ spokesperson Daniel Höltgen told dpa.

Russia annexed Crimea, the location of a major Russian naval base.

The Russian government also supported separatist rebellion in parts of Eastern Ukraine as retaliation for Ukraine’s ousting its pro-Russian president after protests calling for closer ties with the West.

Russia denounced the ouster as a Western-backed coup.

About 10,000 people had died in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to estimates by the United Nations.