Svir River

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River Svir
Banks of the Svir River
Origin	Lake Onega
Mouth	Lake Ladoga
Basin countries	Russia
Length	224 km (139 mi)
Source elevation	32 m (105 ft)
Avg. discharge	790 m³/s (27,903 ft³/s)
Basin area	83,200 km² (32,124 mi²)

Svir (Russian: Свирь, Finnish: Syväri, Estonian: Sviri) is a river in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows from Lake Onega west to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest lakes of Europe. It is the largest river flowing into Lake Ladoga.

After Peter the Great connected the Svir with the Neva River by the Ladoga Canal, the river has been part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway. There are two hydroelectric power plants on the Svir.

The river flows past the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, which used to house Svirlag (one of the most infamous gulags). The area around the river saw heavy fighting during the Continuation War 1941–1944.

[edit] Main tributaries

• Vazhinka (right)
• Oyat (left)
• Pasha (left)

[edit] Cities and towns along the Svir

• Podporozhye (60°54′N, 34°11′E)
• Lodeynoye Pole (60°43′N, 33°33′E)