The fall of the Soviet Union badly disrupted the Slava class, but weak maintenance institutions predated 1991. Soviet infrastructure and upkeep were already poor, and officials or officers could divert resources for personal benefit. Memoirs and accounts suggest that some senior officers incorporated expected corruption into program design because ignoring it produced less realistic plans. The ships' later condition therefore reflects institutional continuity as well as the sudden economic shock of the Soviet collapse.
Chapter · 1:00:20-1:02:31
Maintenance failures crossed the Soviet and post-Soviet divide
The closing historical argument rejects the idea that diverted maintenance funds began after 1991 and describes corruption as a condition Soviet planners sometimes had to build into their programs.