Actually, the 2nd Moskva vessel, the Lenningrad, was decommissioned in 1991 after 22 years of service. The Moskva was taken out of service at same time but held in reserve until 1996 when she too was decommisisoned after 29 years of service.
The Kievs did not last much lnger. The first three, the Kiev, the Minsk, and the Novorossiysk, were all decommissioned in June 1993, after only 18, 15, and an astonishing 11 years of service each.
The Baku, commisisoned in 1987, served until 1994 when she had a major boiler room explosion. She was however repaired and her name was changed to Admiral Gorshkov in 1995 when she was put back into service. Then, only a year later, she was decommissioned as well, after only 9 years of service!
Hard times had come to the Rodina, and the Red Banner Fleets.
As we know, the Gorshkov was finally sold to the Indians in 2004. The Indians got a vessel with only nine years service on it...despite the boiler room mishap. But, after 2005, a lot of price haggling and delays insued.
The Russians had lost their major carrier production facilities of the old Soviet Union in the Ukraine. The shipyard, Sevmash Enterprise, doing the refit of the Gorshkov, had a long and difficult learning curve.
But ultimately in 2009 work began to proceed rapidly and in 2012, she underwent trials, had to have her boiler bricks repaired, and then, as we saw, she was commissioned to India in September 2013 as the INS Virkamaditya, R33.
So, really in 1991, the Russians only had five carrier type vessels really in service, and as you say, they had no airwings. By 1993, two years later, the Russians only had two carriers left, the Gorshkov which had just come out of repaor, and the Kuznetsov which was just getting its airwing and becoming operational. By 1996, only the Kuznetsov remained, which to this day, now 18 years later, is still the only operational Russian aircraft carrier, sister ship to the Chinese Liaoning.
The Varyag, turned Liaoning, is, IMHO with its new refit by the Chinese, the superior vessel. The J-15 is a more capable multi-role strike aircaft than the SU-33. The sensor suite, particularly the newer APAR is superior to the RUssian radar that was installed (their APAR never worked), and the Chinese have the wherewithall, right now, to add the other necessary components to really enhance her.
Two-seat attack version of the J-15, EW variant of the J-15, a new AEW aircraft that can launch and recover on the Liaoning's STOBAR deck, and evolving, strong escorts for the carrier. Now, some of those things have not occurred yet, but my point is that the Chinese are not mired in near economic insolvency and have the money, the time, and the will to push these things to completion...including more carriers in the relative ner future.
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