VOLGA-BALTIC WATERWAY

officially V.i. Lenin Volga-baltic Waterway, Russian Volgo-baltiysky Vodny Put Imeni V.i. Lenina system of rivers and a canal in western Russia linking the Volga River with the Baltic Sea. The system was completed in 1964, replacing the antiquated Mariinsk Canal system using the same route, which was constructed originally in the 18th century and later several times enlarged and improved. The waterway starts at Rybinsk, on the Volga River and the Rybinsk Reservoir, and goes northward by way of the Sheksna River, which has been converted to a reservoir by a dam and power station above Cherepovets, to Lake Beloye. Crossing the lake, now within the Sheksna Reservoir, the waterway follows the Kovzha River, which is linked by a canal section over the watershed to the Vytegra River; the latter has been canalized by the construction of six locks and two hydroelectric stations and reservoirs. The Vytegra River flows into Lake Onega, and from there the waterway continues westward through the canalized Svir River. It follows the Svir to Lake Ladoga and the Novoladozhsky Canal, and then to the Neva River, which empties into the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea at St. Petersburg. The length of the waterway from Lake Onega to Cherepovets is 229 miles (368 km). The system has seven modern automatically controlled locks and can take craft up to 11.5 feet (3.5 m) draft and 5,000 tons capacity, in contrast to the old Mariinsk system, with 40 locks and a limit of 600-ton barges. The Volga-Baltic Waterway connects with the White SeaBaltic Canal at Lake Onega.