The ship was built in 1970 by Stocznia Polnocna, Gdańsk as a hydrographic survey vessel and converted to military use in 1989. It was outfitted for signals intelligence (SIGINT) purposes. It initially served with the Northern Fleet and was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet in 1974. In April 1999, "Liman" was deployed in the Adriatic Sea at the request of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević to monitor NATO operations against Yugoslavia. It also saw service during the Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War.