Sverdlov cruisers beyond coastal power projection

Have post-1990 Soviet records established a commerce-raiding role for Sverdlov cruisers beyond short-range operations under land-based air cover?

Admiralty translations of 1950s documents support the interpretation, but no direct commerce-raiding instruction is identified. Ships on diplomatic deployments could become surface raiders in a prolonged conventional war.

Admiralty translations of 1950s Soviet documents support a broader interpretation of cruiser employment than operations close to land-based air cover. Direct commerce-raiding instructions are not identified, so the wartime role remains an inference. Access to Soviet defence and security records was more difficult than access to political material, limiting what could be established from later archival research. Distant deployments served diplomacy in peacetime and placed ships where they could threaten shipping during a prolonged conventional war. That prospective wartime role could influence the vessels and crews selected for diplomatic patrols. A few units in distant theatres also complicated NATO's effort to concentrate on the North Atlantic and Europe.