This list of active Russian Navy ships presents a picture which can never be fully agreed upon in the absence of greater data availability and a consistent standard for which ships are considered operational or not. The Soviet Navy, and the Russian Navy which inherited its traditions, had a different attitude to operational status than many Western navies. Ships went to sea less and maintained capability for operations while staying in harbor.

The significant changes which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union then complicated the picture enormously. Determining which ships are operational or in refit can be difficult. Jane's Fighting Ships has noted in one of its 1999-2000 editions that some ships have little capability, but remain flying an ensign so that crews are entitled to be paid.

Jane's Fighting Ships online edition, dated 8 March 2010, added "There are large numbers of most classes 'in reserve', and flying an ensign so that skeleton crews may still be paid. [Their listing reflected] only those units assessed as having some realistic operational capability or some prospect of returning to service after refit."

During the 2010s there was a shift toward the production and introduction of modern light units to begin to replace large numbers of obsolescent corvettes, missile boats and mine counter-measures ships from the Soviet-era. In addition, there has been a renewed emphasis on submarine production with the introduction of nuclear-powered ballistic missile, nuclear-powered cruise missile as well as new classes of conventionally-powered attack submarines. As of 2019, this trend was forecast as likely to continue through the 2020s.