Svetlana, now renamed Profintern, became fully operational in 1928 and was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet the following year.

The ship was renamed Krasny Krym in 1939 and supported Soviet troops during the Black Sea Campaigns during World War II.

Several years after the first Gangut-class battleships were ordered, the navy finally gained approval for four light cruisers as part of the 1912–1916 shipbuilding program to scout for the capital ships and to lead destroyer flotillas.

In early 1912 it conducted a design contest for a 4,100–5,100-metric-ton (4,000–5,000-long-ton) ship armed with a dozen 55-caliber 130-millimeter (5.1 in) Pattern 1913 guns, capable of a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), and protected by some side armor.

In February 1913, the IRN needed to divert some money from the cruisers to pay for the Borodino-class battlecruisers and the shipyards agreed to reduce the price from 9,660,000 rubles, excluding guns and armor, to 8,300,000 rubles in exchange for reducing the speed to 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph); the navy then ordered two ships from each yard on 13 February.

Late changes to the design, including the addition of Frahm anti-roll tanks and provision for a seaplane, added several hundred extra tons to the displacement.

These were not delivered owing to the outbreak of World War I, and those intended for Svetlana were used to engine the German Brummer-class cruisers.

As a result, new engines had to be ordered from the UK; this delayed Svetlana, and probably prevented Greig's completion as a cruiser.

[2] Svetlana and her sister ships were evacuated to Petrograd when the Germans approached Reval in late 1917 and were laid up incomplete during the Russian Revolution.

[14] Admiral Butakov was renamed Voroshilov in 1928, and multiple plans were drawn up for her to be completed, including some as a training ship armed with 4 B-2LM turrets (Project 78), but none of these came to fruition.