A Soviet Orel-class carrier could have preserved CVA-01

If the Soviet Orel-class carriers were built, would Britain still cancel CVA-01?

Probably not; Soviet fleet carriers would strengthen the political and operational case for British carrier air power in the North Atlantic.

The answer treats a Soviet Orel-class programme as a change to the political case for British carriers, not merely as another set of enemy hulls. Large Soviet blue-water carriers would make control of the North Atlantic and protection of reinforcement routes more visibly contested. That would raise the Royal Navy's carrier role alongside the British Army of the Rhine rather than allowing naval aviation to be treated as dispensable. In this setting CVA-01 becomes much more likely to survive cancellation because NATO would expect carrier battles and sustained air cover at sea.