[20] The new 60-megawatt icebreaker, referred to using a type size series designation LK-60Ya,[note 1] would feature a so-called dual-draft functionality which would allow the vessel to operate in shallow coastal areas after de-ballasting.

[4] By August 2015, 70% of the hull assembly including the icebreaking bow had been completed, and the construction was proceeding according to the original schedule according to which the vessel would be delivered by December 2017.

[30] By early 2017, it was revealed that the construction of the lead ship of Project 22220 icebreakers had fallen behind schedule and Baltic Shipyard was forced to apply for a one-year contract extension from the Russian Government.

The ship's two main turbogenerators, initially ordered from the Ukrainian state-owned company Turboatom, had to be sourced domestically from Kirov-Energomash due to the deteriorated Russia–Ukraine relations.

[44] The final sea trials began in late August and were concluded on 16 September 2020, after which Arktika returned to Saint Petersburg to prepare the vessel for its maiden voyage to Murmansk.

During the two-week voyage, the icebreaker would also head to the polar ice pack beyond Franz Josef Land to adjust the ship's electric propulsion system in ice-covered waters.

[57][58] With full propulsion power restored, Arktika departed Saint Petersburg in the beginning of December and headed for icebreaking duty in the Arctic.

[48][60][61] In June–August 2020, Rosatomflot filed three lawsuits against Baltic Shipyard in the Moscow Arbitration Court, claiming almost 1 billion rubles of compensation for undisclosed reasons.

[62] Initially, Rosatom stated that one of the first missions of the newly commissioned nuclear-powered icebreaker would be to take 25 Russian teenagers between 12 and 16 years old, finalists of the "Arctic Olympiad", to the North Pole in October 2020.

The vessel departed on its first working voyage on the Northern Sea Route on 14 November but briefly returned to Murmansk for minor technical adjustments.

Designed to operate efficiently both in shallow Arctic river estuaries as well as along the Northern Sea Route, the draught of the vessel can be varied between about 9 and 10.5 metres (30 and 34 ft) by taking in and discharging ballast water, with displacement up to 33,327 tonnes (32,801 long tons).