Fully laden, the ship drew 6.6 metres (22 ft) of water and had a displacement of 3,700 tonnes (3,600 long tons).

[1] Like all Project 97 variants, Otto Schmidt had a diesel-electric power plant consisting of three 1,800-horsepower (1,300 kW) 10-cylinder 13D100 two-stroke opposed-piston main diesel engines coupled to double-armature direct current (DC) generators.

They provided power to 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) electric propulsion motors driving two 3.5-metre (11 ft) four-bladed fixed pitch propellers.

[1] After completing its final voyage on 11 November 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Otto Schmidt was laid up in Murmansk due to lack of funding for required maintenance and repairs.

The ship was later sold to a private company, left Murmansk on 8 August 1996 under its own power, and was beached for scrapping in Alang, India, in September of the same year.