Rather than using a straightforward multi-engine configuration with engines mounted on the wings, the Slesarev Svyatogor was designed to use engines housed within the fuselage that drove external propellers via a belt system. This approach was intended to reduce drag and improve aerodynamic efficiency, but it introduced considerable mechanical complexity. At a time when engine reliability was already a major issue in aviation, such a system posed significant engineering challenges.

Construction of the Svyatogor began during World War One, but progress was slow due to industrial limitations and the broader strains placed on the Russian economy. Difficulties with the transmission system delayed the project and it was abandoned in 1921 after the death of Slesarev. The Svyatogor never flew.

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