[3] The design, by N. P. Sobolov, combined a powerful missile armament with good seakeeping for a blue water role.

[1] The ships initially retained the same BPK designation as the larger vessels but were designated Guard Ship (Сторожевой Корабль, SKR) from 28 July 1977 to reflect their substantial greater anti-ship capability than the earlier members of the class and the Soviet strategy of creating protected areas for friendly submarines close to the coast.

Defence against aircraft was provided by forty 4K33 OSA-M (SA-N-4 'Gecko') surface to air missiles which were launched from two sets of twin-arm ZIF-122 launchers.

An extensive sonar complex was fitted, including the bow-mounted MG-332T Titan-2T and the towed-array MG-325 Vega that had a range of up to 15 kilometres (9.3 mi).

[16] The ship visited Mumbai, India, arriving on 15 November 1984 along with the Project 1135 Burevestnik (NATO reporting name 'Krivak I' class) vessel Razumnyy.

[18] The exercise was followed by a cruise in the Sea of Japan between 29 May and 16 June to develop tactics for aircraft to undertake anti-shipping and anti-submarine patrols.

This was particularly noticed by the United States as the sea is a major deployment area for Soviet ballistic missile submarines.