It’s kind of a difficult question. There are only a few reasons to have a navy: coastal defense, protection of shipping, and power projection are the biggest. Great powers have usually done all three. It’s always been hard to show yourself as a powerful nation without a navy to send out on the high seas, able to go anywhere. The United States declared itself an international power when it sent out the Great White Fleet on its round-the world voyage in 1907, joining Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan as superpowers.

Russia is, in Putin’s mind at least, still a great power, and the Moskva was used as a symbol of power projection, fighting in the Georgia and Chechnya conflicts and serving in the Mediterranean in the Syrian civil war as well. Long range missiles can be great equalizers, and the Moskva carried quite a punch. But truly modern navies rely even more heavily on air power, and Russia has just one carrier, currently laid up in drydock. Yes, carriers are highly valuable ships, but their value cuts both ways as practical and symbolic weapons.