Russia buys most of their arms from their own industry so while their military budget in $ is far smaller than the US they get more bang for the buck (or in their case ruble). So while they nominally spend ~$60B per year when accounted for PPP (purchasing power parity) that looks more like equivalent of $150B (or $200). Things are obviously more complex than this but it's obvious that while they spend similar $ amount as UK or France they maintain significantly larger military.

> As a counter perspective, Ukraine would have made it's naval fleet completely unusable, as it needs to pass that country for getting anywhere.

They had open access to the Black Sea even without Crimea, I'm not sure how Ukraine could block them then or now?

btw pipeline isn't halted (so far): https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-ne...