ABSTRACT
The Volga is Europe's largest river and may lay claim to being the cradle of the Russian nation. Its basin covers a third of European Russia and this formerly contained a quarter of the total Soviet population. The river crosses the heartland of Russia: linked by seaways and canals to the Baltic and the White Sea in the north it flows south-east and then south-west across European Russia before entering the Caspian Sea through its delta. Its economic importance as well as its role as a highway is immense.
