premise: On Thursday, Russia's state-run Gazprom secured control of the project and agreed to pay 7.45 billion dollars to the consortium led by Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell.
  Shell and its two Japanese partners, trading houses Mitsui and Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. will become minority owners.
  The project had been halted when Russia accused the companies of environmental violations, a move widely seen by foreign investors as a way for the government to muscle in and take control.
  But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the latest deal.
  "It means a lot that Japan secured the energy supply from Russia," he told reporters.
   What caused the project to be halted?
hypothesis: the government to muscle in and take control