“SSV-571 Belomorye” was a reconnaissance vessel. Such ships play a special role in both peace and war times. Spy ships perform specific missions in various areas of the world’s oceans, ranging from monitoring naval forces to conducting electronic warfare operations against enemy forces. The primary objective of these ships is to collect information about military installations, enemy activities, and various maritime and atmospheric conditions. A reconnaissance ship is usually equipped with sensors and communications equipment that allow them to receive data from various sources. In peacetime, spy ships also perform a number of combat training exercises while on active duty far from their native shores.

During the 1990s, the number of intelligence ships of the Russian Navy was greatly reduced: many units were excluded from the Navy and scrapped, some were sold to private companies or transferred to the navies of other states. All special purpose brigades were disbanded, and divisions were downsized. By the late 2010s, the Navy had 20 reconnaissance ships of various classes and projects. Of these, the Northern Fleet includes six ships, the Pacific and Black Sea Fleets operate five units each, and the Baltic Fleet has four units.

One of the ships listed in the Northern Fleet is the large SSV-571 Belomorye reconnaissance ship of Project 1826. The project included the first vessels in the USSR Navy built specifically for the collection and processing of intelligence information. They monitored the activities of ships of the naval forces of NATO countries during exercises in the North Atlantic, and also followed aircraft carrier groups of the US Navy.

The Belomorye is part of the 518th Separate Division of special purpose ships of the Northern Fleet Intelligence Center. In the 2000s, the ship was placed in reserve, and only in 2014 repairs began to restore the technical readiness of the ship.