Indian and Chinese carriers descended from Soviet Kuznetsov-family designs, but both navies altered them extensively. Calling either ship an original Russian design is technically accurate at the level of ancestry. That label becomes misleading if it hides the later national redesign work and the capabilities that changed with it. A hull's ancestry alone does not describe the ship that eventually enters service.
Notable Point · 3:49:45-3:50:02
How Indian and Chinese carriers moved beyond the Kuznetsov design
Indian and Chinese Kuznetsov-derived carriers retain Russian design ancestry while incorporating extensive national changes that make the original label incomplete.