The National Grid noted that the company had made arrangements for this year's exercise back in January. During that time, a month before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin had already begun squeezing supplies to Europe in a bid to exert political pressure on the EU. A National Grid spokesperson said: "Exercise Degree is the latest in a long series of annual exercises which go back to 1996 when the Network Emergency Co-ordinator role was created. "The exercises enable National Grid Gas, government, and industry participants to test the effectiveness of industry-wide emergency arrangements in order to prevent, and (if unavoidable) respond to a gas supply emergency. READ MORE: Sturgeon makes massive U-turn on nationalised energy failure