Russia's constraint on building large warships

Why is Russia unlikely to build another large surface combatant soon?

Not soon: Russia retains excellent designers but lacks the broad skilled workforce needed to manufacture and support large warships without gutting other programs.

Russian engineers do not lack ingenuity. The problem is reproducing sophisticated designs at industrial scale. The post-Soviet loss of population, lecturers, engineers, and stable technical training narrowed the workforce available to yards. Allocating scarce specialists to one large surface combatant would also reduce submarine, frigate, and corvette output. Keeping Kirov and Kuznetsov alive reflects the difficulty of replacing large hulls, while successful smaller-warship production shows how Russia concentrates its remaining capacity.