Varyag shows why the class should not be dismissed as useless. As Pacific Fleet flagship she sustained Russian presence in the Far East, made diplomatic deployments, and was called back in 2015 to support operations in Syria after an upgrade. That active pattern of diplomacy and presence made her the most conventionally cruiser-like of the surviving ships. Sending the backup can still expose a weakness, because a deployment by Varyag may reveal that carriers or nuclear cruisers remain unavailable in refit.
Chapter · 37:20-43:17
Varyag turns the backup cruiser into presence power
Varyag's Pacific flagship career, Syria deployment, and active diplomacy show how a backup cruiser can project useful presence while revealing that nominally superior ships are unavailable.