Fully laden, the vessels drew 5.35 metres (17.6 ft) of water and had a displacement of 2,935 tonnes (2,889 long tons).

Their three 1,800-horsepower (1,300 kW) 10-cylinder 13D100 two-stroke opposed-piston diesel engines were coupled to generators that powered electric propulsion motors driving two propellers in the stern and a third one in the bow.

Project 97A icebreakers were capable of breaking 70 to 75 centimetres (28 to 30 in) thick snow-covered ice at very slow but continuous speed.

[3] The sixth of twelve Project 97A icebreakers was laid down at Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad on 20 January 1964, launched on 29 April 1964, and delivered to the Baltic Sea Shipping Company on 27 October 1964.

[3] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ivan Kruzenstern passed over to the successor state, Russia.