Volga River

Europe's longest river, draining a third of European Russia/Rivers

The Volga is the longest river in Europe at 3,530 km, flowing from the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow south to the Caspian Sea. Its drainage basin of 1.38 million square kilometers covers about one-third of European Russia. The Volga is central to Russian identity, often called 'Mother Volga' (Volga-Matushka). Eleven of Russia's twenty largest cities, including Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, and Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), sit along its banks. The Volga-Don Canal connects it to the Black Sea and thus to the world's oceans.