The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrying cruiser (Russian: Авиано́сцы ти́па «Кузнецо́в» Avianо́stsii Tipa "Kuznetsо́v"), Soviet designation Project 1143.5, is a class of aircraft carriers operated by the Russian and Chinese navies. Originally designed for the Soviet Navy, the Kuznetsov-class ships use a ski-jump to launch high-performance conventional aircraft in a STOBAR configuration. The design represented a major advance in Soviet fleet aviation over the Kiev-class carriers, which could only launch VSTOL aircraft. The Soviet Union's classification for the class was as a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser, which permits the ships to transit the Turkish Straits without violating the Montreux Convention. However, the Chinese variants are classified as aircraft carriers.