A concept of the first Soviet helicopter carrying antisubmarine cruiser received governmental support in 1958, and the Nevskoye Planning and Design Bureau was instructed to implement the aforementioned concept into the Project 1123 ship. Work was supervised by Chief Designer A.Savichev. In 1967 A.Marinich succeeded him. Dozens of versions of the planned ship were considered during the design process. As a result, the 4,500-t displacement initially planned in the design and engineering requirements increased to 14,600 t at the construction stage. The ship was designed to carry 14 Ka-25 antisubmarine warfare helicopters built in compliance with the traditional Kamov Design Bureau coaxial rotor principle without the tail rotor. When the Moskva's first appeared in the late 1960s, they were the largest warships completed for the Soviet Navy since the Revolution.

The two Moskva class ships were introduced in 1967 and were homeported in the Black Sea. They deployed to the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. They were designated as "aviation cruisers" at least in part to avoid problems with the 1936 Montreaux Convention, which prohibited passage of "aircraft carriers" through the Dardanelles.

Helicopter carrier Leningrad laid down 15.01.1965 at the Chernomorsky Shipyard, Nikolaev (yard No.702), launched 31.07.1966, commissioned on 2.06.1969 and was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet.

The cruiser sailed to the Mediterranean 15 times, twice visited the Baltic Sea, and cruised around Africa.

24 June 1991 the helicopter carrier Leningrad was excluded from the lists of the Black Sea Fleet.

24 August 1995 the ship in tow left Sevastopol for India for cutting into metal.