Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga ( or ; [earlier in Finnish "Nevajärvi"]; ; ) is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake entirely in Europe, and the 14th largest freshwater lake by area in the world. "Ladoga Lacus", a methane lake on Saturn's moon Titan, is named after the lake. In one of Nestor's chronicles from the 12th century he mentions a lake called "the Great Nevo", a clear link to the Neva River and, possibly furthermore, to Finnish "nevo" "sea" or
Lake Ladoga were connected by a strait or a river outlet at least until the formation of the River Neva, and possibly even much later, until the 12th century AD or so. At 9,500 BP, Lake Onega, previously draining into the White Sea, started emptying into Ladoga via the River Svir. Between 9,500 and 9,100 BP, during the transgression of Ancylus Lake, the next freshwater stage of the Baltic, Ladoga certainly became part of it, even if they hadn't been connected immediately before. During the Ancylus Lake subsequent regression, around 8,800 BP Ladoga became isolated. Ladoga slowly transgressed in its southern part