Spanish Civil War lessons and Sverdlov's diplomatic weight

The Soviet Union supported Republican Spain, correcting the comment's reference to Nationalist Spain. The comment proposes that Soviet experience of foreign naval pressure helped shape the later Sverdlov design. A large cruiser accompanying Soviet merchant shipping could raise the force and escalation costs of another non-intervention patrol or undeclared blockade. Smaller trade-protection cruisers would then face a more difficult confrontation. Naval diplomacy plausibly formed part of the design's purpose, though the Spanish Civil War connection remains a proposed explanation without a documented design requirement.