The Slava class was not meant to stick around and slug it out. In a major war between NATO and WP most major naval surface ships were not expected to survive (including carriers btw). A Slava was only meant to survive long enough to launch most or all of its long range supersonic missiles (which would also be nuclear tipped), and then after that it didn’t matter if it survived or not (after all, if the Slava was sunk, but managed to destroy a carrier task group, then that was a perfectly acceptable exchange ratio). Thus, just like its aerial analogue the Bear, which many also say is obsolete, the thing that should be looked at are the highly capable and seriously potent missiles they carry. The ship (and plane) is simply a long distance launch platform for the missiles; and once that is done then it really doesn’t matter what happens after.
Well stated. It is unwise to underestimate a solid missile platform.