Kronstadt was the lead ship of her class of ten Project 1134A Berkut A (NATO reporting name Kresta II-class) cruisers, designed by Vasily Anikeyev.

[1][3] Kronstadt was propelled by two TV-12 steam geared turbines powered by four high pressure boilers which created 75,000 kilowatts (101,000 hp), giving her a maximum speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph).

She also had four 30 mm AK-630 CIWS mountings, and was armed with two twin launchers for the 48 V-611 surface-to-air missiles they carried in the M-11 Shtorm system.

As one of the first four ships in her class, Kronstadt used manual targeting for the AK-630 due to not having received the Vympel fire control radar.

The flag of the Soviet Navy was hoisted for the first time about the ship on 24 August 1969, and Kronstadt was submitted for government testing on 17 October.

[7] Kronstadt was assigned to the 120th Missile Ship Brigade of the Northern Fleet on 9 March 1970, under the command of Captain Lev Yevdokimov.

[9] From 28 February to 2 April 1972, she participated in the rescue of the crew of Soviet submarine K-19 in the North Atlantic, operating alongside helicopter carrier Leningrad, cruisers Alexander Nevsky and Vitse-Admiral Drozd, submarine tender Magomet Gadzhiyev, guard ship SB-38, and rescue ship Karpaty.

By a 13 December decree of the Presidium of the Soviet Armed Forces, she received a Jubilee Badge of Honor on the 50th anniversary of Communist Party's Central Committee.

[10] From 11 May to 31 May 1973, Kronstadt participated in exercise Laguna, searching for NATO submarines in the North Atlantic, in conjunction with sister Kresta II-class cruiser Admiral Nakhimov and an anti-submarine warfare group.

From 8 August 1975 to 9 January 1980, she was repaired and modernized at the Kronstadt Marine Plant as part of the 95th Separate Battalion of Ships undergoing construction or overhaul.

In order to replace her Grom fire control and M-11 Shtorm surface-to-air missile system, she was put in for repairs at SRZ-35 in Murmansk on 9 March 1983.

The Grom and Shtorm were flooded and disabled on 11 May 1984, but after repair work she served in the Faroe Islands anti-submarine barrier between 2 September and 13 October.

On 19 November of that year, while on air defense duty, two shots were accidentally fired from one of its 57 mm AK-725 anti-aircraft guns, without casualties.