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Putin's "Ruble rule" went into effect April 1st, 2022. This coincided with a severe cold snap in Northern Europe. EU countries refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles and, on April 15th, the gas supply through Ukraine and through Nordstream 1 was shut down by Russia. Finland and Sweden, not in NATO - cancelled gas contracts with Russia and Finland stopped keeping the sea-lane through the Gulf of Finland to St. Petersburg free of ice. Lithuania closed down all transport through its road and rail system to Kaliningrad as well.
Both sides had prepared for the gas pipeline closures to some extent - Russia already in December 2021 parked two LNG tankers in Kaliningrad, and thereby offset the immediate effect of the closure of the pipeline that supplied the enclave through Lithuania with natural gas. Lithuania and part of EU had set up LNG supply by tankers from the USA, but both measures could not compensate for the closed pipelines. At the conclusion of NATO exercise "Cold Response", NATO moved most of the trained naval forces into the Baltic Sea.
Russia counts on its hypersonic missiles and nuclear deterrent to make NATO back down. NATO saw their superiority in stealth planes as a factor that would make Russia think twice about using force.
Then Sweden and Finland scheduled parliamentary votes on joining NATO.
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