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 eighth of twelve Project 97A icebreakers was laid down at Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad on 12 December 1964, launched on 28 February 1965, and delivered to the North-Eastern Directorate of the Maritime Fleet on 11 August 1965.

[1] Some sources state that the vessel was broken up shortly thereafter in China[5] while others claim that it served briefly with the Vietnamese Navy until the 1990s.