It was distinct from other gorgonopsians in that the lower end of the postorbital bar was narrow, and it had a very large sulcus (or furrow) at the back of the skull on each side.

The skeleton of Viatkogorgon was unusual in having gastralia, in that the tail was differentiated with a front and hind part, with the former less flexible, and in that some of the foot bones and its digits were reduced in size and interconnected.

The skeleton of Viatkogorgon had features such as a vertebral column with increased vertical curvature, including the hind part of the tail, and restricted mobility of some digits of the feet, likened to a flipper-like structure indicating it may have been a relatively good swimmer.

The age of the Vanyushonki Member of the Kotelnich succession, from which Viatkogorgon is known, is not determined but is thought to date to either the late or middle Permian epoch.

In 1999, the paleontologist Leonid P. Tatarinov described and named a new genus and species of gorgonopsian (a group of stem-mammals with saber teeth that lived during the Permian period[1]), Viatkogorgon ivakhnenkoi.

The holotype specimen (cataloged as PIN 2212/61 in the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow), on which the scientific name is based, was found in 1992 at the Kotelnich locality of Kotelnichsky District, in Russia's Kirov Oblast.

This includes elements rarely preserved intact in therapsids (the group in which gorgonopsians belong), such as the gastralia (or abdominal ribs, a feature found among reptiles, for example).

[2][3][4] In 2018, the paleontologists Christian F. Kammerer and Vladimir Masyutin redescribed the skull of Viatkogorgon and stated that a detailed description of the postcranium would greatly improve understanding of the skeletal anatomy of gorgonopsian, but noted it was unavailable for study during their research, as it was part of a traveling exhibition.

The internarial bar (which divided the nostrils) curved slightly hindward in side view, so that the lower front margin of the snout was blunt rather than pointed.

The tooth row behind the canine was short and consisted of four closely packed postcanines, which were recurved (curved backwards), unlike those of Nochnitsa.

[2] The lower jaw of Viatkogorgon was typical for gorgonopsians, unlike that of Nochnitsa, with a tall mandibular symphysis (the area where the two halves of the mandible connected at the front) and distinct mentum (or "chin").

The gastralia of Viatkogorgon formed an unusual, latticed frame of segmentally arranged narrow bars, located under the frontmost thoracic ribs.

The lumbar vertebrae were massive, longer than the thoracic ones, and had horizontally positioned zygagophyses and somewhat thickened neural spines, whose front edges narrowed towards the top.

Of the three sacral vertebrae, only the hindmost two connected to the ilium of the pelvis by expanded ribs, the ends of which adjoined each other to form a common articular facet.

The coracoids (part of the pectoral girdle in vertebrates other than mammals) were displaced somewhat upwards and closely adjoined the inner surface of the scapula, projecting from the front and back of that bone.

The ulna was flattened from top to bottom, and its upper part had a roughened area bordered by crests, which marked where the flexor muscles of the hand originated.

Another unusual feature was that the articular facets of the hindmost foot bones extended onto the front side of the fibula and tibia of the lower leg.

[9] In his 1999 description, Tatarinov found Viatkogorgon to belong in the gorgonopsian subfamily Sycosaurinae within the family Gorgonopsidae, based on features such as small size and the narrowness of the snout.

[8] In his 2004 description of the postcranial skeleton, Tatarinov cautioned that this provided little information about the taxonomic position of Viatkogorgon among gorgonopsians—some features being unique and others occurring in other members of the group.

[4] The following cladogram showing the position of Viatkogorgon within Gorgonopsia follows Kammerer and Rubidge, 2022:[11] Nochnitsa Viatkogorgon Suchogorgon Sauroctonus Pravoslavlevia Inostrancevia Phorcys Eriphostoma Gorgonops Cynariops Lycaenops Smilesaurus Arctops Arctognathus Rubidgeinae In contrast, previous analyses had not found gorgonopsians to be grouped geographically, with some studies placing Russian genera such as Inostrancevia in African families.

They cautioned that the paleobiogeography of tetrapod animals (ancestrally four-limbed vertebrates) during the Permian remained poorly understood, with the expected dispersal abilities of various therapsid groups often differing from what can be seen in the fossil record and suggested more research was needed.

[4] Kammerer and Masyutin noted that while Viatkogorgon and Nochnitsa added to gorgonopsian diversity of the Kotelnich fauna, the group remained less rich in species than the therocephalians there.

[13] In 2019, the Russian paleontologists Yulia A. Suchkova and Golubev stated that the therocephalian Gorynychus from Kotelnich would have shared its niche as a dominant predator with Viatkogorgon.

[6] The paleoartist and writer Mauricio Antón provided an overview of gorgonopsian biology in a 2013 book, writing that despite their differences from saber-toothed mammals, many features of their skeletons indicated they were not sluggish reptiles but active predators.

While their brains were relatively smaller than those of mammals, and their sideways placed eyes provided limited stereoscopic vision, they had well-developed turbinals in their nasal cavity, a feature associated with an advanced sense of smell, which would have helped them track prey and carrion.

[14] Antón envisioned gorgonopsians would hunt by leaving their cover when prey was close enough, and use their relatively greater speed to pounce quickly on it, grab it with their forelimbs, and bite any part of the body that would fit in their jaws.

[3] Antón stated in 2013 that while the post-cranial skeletons of gorgonopsians were basically reptilian, their stance was far more upright than in more primitive synapsids, like pelycosaurs, which were more sprawling.

These mudstones were possibly deposited from suspension in standing water bodies on floodplains or shallow ephemeral lakes, that remained flooded for short periods of time, but the exact environment has not yet been determined, due to the lack of a primary structure of the sediments.

[4][16] The Vanyushonki Member is the source of most of the tetrapod fossils from the Kotelnich locality, with skeletal remains being abundant here, often consisting of complete, articulated skeletons.

Apart from the gorgonopsians Viatkogorgon and Nochnitsa, therapsids from the locality include the anomodont Suminia and the therocephalians Chlynovia, Gorynychus, Karenites, Perplexisaurus, Scalopodon, Scalopodontes, and Viatkosuchus.