Project 1577 is a Soviet design of tanker that was intended for "mixed navigation": operating on the canals and large navigable rivers of European Russia; and also short-sea shipping in favourable sea conditions, with waves no more than 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high.

[3] In December 1999, Volgoneft-248 left Burgas in Bulgaria carrying 4,365 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.

[4] On 27 December she passed through the Bosphorus, and anchored off Ambarlı oil terminal to await a berth to discharge her cargo.

This spilt about 1,279 tons of her oil cargo into the sea, causing a major pollution incident.

The heavier fraction of the oil sank and settled on the seabed, where it remains a contaminant and an environmental threat.

[6] In the aft section, aground at Küçükçekmece, her numbers 7 and 8 cargo tanks contained about 1,013 tonnes of oil.

[5] Most of the oil in the forward section was recovered in February 2000,[7] but the remainder continued to leak into the sea until that summer.