The ship was laid down as "Riga" at Shipyard 444 (now Mykolaiv South) in Mykolaiv, Ukrainian SSR, on 6 December 1985. Design work was undertaken by the "Nevskoye Planning and Design Bureau". Launched on 4 December 1988, the carrier was renamed "Varyag" in late 1990, after a previous similarly named cruiser launched in 1899. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the ship was only 68% complete. Construction was halted, and the ship was put up for sale. The name "Varyag" was then adopted by another cruiser launched in 1983.