We're talking about carriers here, right? How many of those do you think the Russians can run through the Artic, let alone most of the other places you mentioned, in the winter?

You probably consider yourself very enlightened and open minded.

In addition to what demonlapin said, remember that the Soviets 1st priority (as was ours) was a nuclear deterrent. An effective submarine force that could stay hidden and provide a 2nd-launch capability would provide that. The irony is that the Soviets attempts at building a force that could stay hidden long enough to accomplish this mission wasn't reliably achieved until the 80's, and at that point their efforts had in part bankrupted their country. There was no money left over for carriers.