Lake Valdayskoye, or Lake Valdai (Russian: Валдайское озеро, озеро Валдай, romanizedozero Valdai) is a freshwater lake located in the center of Valdaysky District of Novgorod Oblast in Russia in the middle of the Valdai Hills. One of the largest lakes in Novgorod Oblast, it has a surface area (without islands) of 19.7 km2 (7.6 sq mi),[3] and the area of its basin is 97.2 km2 (37.5 sq mi). The average depth of Lake Valdayskoye is 12 m (39 ft) (the deepest point reaches 60 m (200 ft)). The lake freezes up in early December and stays icebound until early May. The lake is located in the center of Valdaysky National Park.

Valdai Lake
Aerial view of Lake Valdayskoye
Valdai Lake is located in Novgorod Oblast
Valdai Lake
Valdai Lake
Valdai Lake is located in European Russia
Valdai Lake
Valdai Lake
LocationValdai Hills, Novgorod Oblast
Coordinates57°59′15″N 33°17′42″E / 57.98750°N 33.29500°E / 57.98750; 33.29500
Catchment area97.2 km2 (37.5 sq mi)[1]
Basin countriesRussia
Surface area19.7 km2 (7.6 sq mi)[1]
Average depth12 m (39 ft)[2]
Max. depth60 m (200 ft)[2]
SettlementsValday

The town of Valday stands on the southwestern shore of the lake along the M10 Moscow - St. Petersburg highway. One of the islands, Selvitsky Island (Russian: Остров Сельвицкий), is occupied by the Valday Iversky Monastery. Besides Valday, there are also several villages around the lake. An anabranch connects Lake Valdai to a smaller lake, Lake Uzhin (Russian: озеро Ужин). Lake Uzhin, the source of the Valdayka River, belongs to the river basin of the Msta River and thus to the Baltic Sea basin.

The lake has almost a round shape with a large bay appended to it on the northwest end. There are several islands on the lake, the biggest of which is the 119 ha (290-acre) Ryabinovy Island (Russian: Остров Рябиновый).[4] It is connected to the lake coast in the south and to Iversky Monastery in the north.

Lake Valdayskoye is located in the center of the Valdai Hills, and is surrounded by many other lakes. Many of these lakes drain into Lake Valdayskoye or into the Valdayka. The basin of the lake comprises all of the northeastern part of Valdaysky District.

The lake has become[when?] a popular tourist-destination, with many recreation facilities on its shores. The first meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club took place on the lake in 2004.

The lake is navigable, and the Zarya-211 (Russian: «Заря-211») cruiser ship sailed between the town of Valday and the Iversky Monastery until 2016.[5]

Since 2004, a road connects Valday along the shore of Lake Valdai over a 140 m (460 ft) bridge to Ryabinovy Island and then over a 30 m (98 ft) bridge to the 11 ha (27-acre) Selvitsky Island to the monastery over which buses, taxis, and cars travel, or, during the winter when the lake is frozen, it is only a 3 km (1.9 mi) walk between Valday and the monastery over the frozen Lake Valdayskoye.[6][7]

Putin's Dacha

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Putin's Dacha is on the southern 100 ha (250 acres) of a peninsula between Lake Uzhin (Russian: Ужин) and Lake Valdai (Russian: озеро Валдай) and is across Lake Valdai from Valday (Russian: Валдай).[8][9] Often, this location, which was built in 1980, is called Valdai, Dolgie Borody (Russian: Долгие Бороды), Uzhin (Russian: «Ужин») or Stalin's Dacha, but Stalin was not alive when Valdai was built.[10][11][a] Abuting north of this location is 150 ha (370 acres) owned by the Russian Federation and is frequented by the Federal Security Service.[8] According to Alexei Navalny, Yuri Kovalchuk is the owner of Putin's Dacha.[8]

The property, also known as Valdai Palace, has been outfitted with several air defence systems amidst the rising threat of Ukrainian missile and drone strikes as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[23] These systems include Pantsir S-1 self propelled anti aircraft weapons and at least one S-400 surface-to-air missile system[24]

Notes

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  1. ^ As of 2021 in addition to Valdai or Dolgie Borody, other residences and offices for the President of Russia include the Kremlin, Novo-Ogaryovo (Russian: Ново-Огарёво) in Moscow Oblast at Rublyovka west of Moscow, Gorky-9 (Russian: Горки-9) in Moscow Oblast at Rublyovka 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Moscow, Bocharov Ruchey, Bocharov Stream, or Riviera (Russian: Бочаров ручей) at Sochi, Rus lodge at the Zavidovo (Russian: Русь «Завидово») hunting grounds near Kozlovo in the Tver Oblast, Barvikha (Russian: Барвиха) or Meyendorff Castle in the Moscow Oblast, Sosny (Russian: Сосны) along the Yenisei near Krasnoyarsk, Shuskaya Chupa (Russian: Шуйская Чупа) along Lake Kochozero (Russian: Кончозеро) 20 km (12 mi) from Petrozavodsk in Karelia which is owned by Alexei Mordashov of the Severstal group since 15 April 2011, Volzhsky Otyos or Volzhsky Cliffs (Russian: Волжский Утёс) along the Kuybyshev Reservoir or Samara Reservoir in the Samara Oblast, Angarsky Kutora or Angarsky Farm (Russian: Ангарские хутора) along the Angara 47 km (29 mi) from Irkutsk, Tantalus (Russian: Тантал) along the Volga near Chardym 40 km (25 mi) from Saratov, Putin's Palace along the Black Sea at Cape Idokopas (Russian: Мыс Идокопас) near Gelendzhik, Maly-Istok (Russian: Малый исток) which is a suburb of Yekaterinburg in Sverdlovskaya Oblast, Sevastyanov's House (Russian: Дом Севастьянова) at Yekaterinburg, several dachas in Crimea, and a presidential office in the Constantine Palace or Konstantinovsky Dvorets (Russian: Константиновский дворец в Стрельне) at Strelna in Petrodvortsovy District of Saint Petersburg.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] During their presidencies, Vladimir Putin primarily resides at Novo-Ogaryovo and Dmitry Medvedev primarily resided at Gorky-9.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b Водохранилище Валдайское (Валдай, вдхр Валдайское) (in Russian). State Water Register of Russia. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b Валдайское озеро. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  3. ^ Darby; Richard Brookes; William Darby (1827). Darby's Universal Gazetteer: Or, A New Geographical Dictionary ... Original from the New York Public Library: Bennett & Walton. p. 837. Archived from the original on 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  4. ^ "Туристические маршруты: обзорная статья" [Tourist routes: overview article]. Valday.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Расписание движения теплохода "Заря-211"" [Timetable of the motor ship "Zarya-211"]. Valday.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  6. ^ "ОСТРОВНОЙ ВАЛДАЙСКИЙ МОНАСТЫРЬ 17 ВЕКА СВЯЖУТ С МАТЕРИКОМ ДВА МОСТА" [VALDAI ISLAND MONASTERY OF THE 17TH CENTURY WILL BE CONNECTED TO THE MAINLAND BY TWO BRIDGES]. «Правосла́вие.Ru» (Pravoslavie.Ru) (in Russian). 15 January 2004. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Валдайский Иверский Святоозёрский Богородицкий мужской монастырь" [Valdai Iversky Holy Lake Bogoroditsky Monastery]. Valday.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "Тайны валдайской дачи Путина" [Secrets of Putin's Valdai dacha]. navalny.com (in Russian). 15 April 2021. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  9. ^ Матвеев, Владимир (Matveev, Vladimir) (12 September 2000). "Власть" [Vlast]. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021. Map showing location of Putin's dacha at Valdai{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Матвеев, Владимир (Matveev, Vladimir) (12 September 2000). "Путино-Дачное" [Putino-Dachnoe]. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ a b sergej_stepin (19 February 2010). "Этим политическим карликам все мало" [It's not enough for these political dwarfs]. Yashin (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2021-07-08. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Четырнадцатое поместье российского президента. Что представляют из себя остальные 13 резиденций Дмитрия Медведева?" [Fourteenth estate of the Russian president. What are the other 13 residences of Dmitry Medvedev?]. «Свободная пресса» (in Russian). 14 February 2010. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  13. ^ Боярский, Алексей (Boyarsky, Alexey); Тарабрина, Марина (Tarabrina, Marina); Перова, Анна (Perova, Anna); Белов, Юрий (Belov, Yuri); Лавский, Валерий (Lavsky, Valery); Чернышев, Алексей (Chernyshev, Alexey); Бачуринский, Владимир (Bachurinsky, Valdimir) (31 January 2011). "Тайна за семью заборами" [The Mystery Behind Seven Fences]. «Коммерсантъ» (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "СМИ пересчитали тайные "загородные дворцы" Путина и Медведева (СПИСОК)" [The media have counted the secret "country palaces" of Putin and Medvedev (LIST)]. newsru.com (in Russian). 7 February 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Усадьбы, коттеджи, дома. Десять дворцов Путина, существование которых никто не отрицает" [Manors, cottages, houses. Ten palaces of Putin, the existence of which no one denies]. Znak.com (in Russian). 20 January 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  16. ^ Жолобова, Мария (Zholobova, Maria); Сотникова, Даниила (Sotnikov, Daniil) (22 May 2019). "Дачное товарищество. Расследование о том,как российское руководство обзавелось неофициальными резиденциями" [Dacha partnership. The investigation of how the Russian leadership has got informal residences]. Проект (proekt.media) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Резникова, Екатерина (Reznikova, Ekaterina) (11 December 2019). "Маленький Крым для больших людей. Репортаж о том, кто поселился на засекреченных дачах в Крыму" [Small Crimea for big people. Report about who settled in secret dachas in Crimea]. Проект (proekt.media) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "Мордашов купил госрезиденцию "Шуйская Чупа" за 291 млн рублей" [Mordashov bought the state residence "Shuiskaya Chupa" for 291 million rubles]. Forbes (in Russian). 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  19. ^ "Резиденция президента изнутри: позолота, люстры по 40 тысяч евро и зеркало, в которое будет смотреться Медведев. 44 фотографии из самого охраняемого и дорогого объекта в Екатеринбурге. Эксклюзив" [The presidential residence from the inside: gilding, chandeliers of 40 thousand euros and a mirror in which Medvedev will look. 44 photographs from the most protected and expensive object in Yekaterinburg. Exclusive]. Ура.ру (ura.ru) (in Russian). 20 January 2009. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  20. ^ "Для резиденции президента РФ в Екатеринбурге заказана мебель. "Работать с этой питерской фирмой настоятельно рекомендовали из Кремля…"" [Furniture ordered for the residence of the President of the Russian Federation in Yekaterinburg. "Working with this St. Petersburg firm was strongly recommended from the Kremlin ..."]. Ура.ру (ura.ru) (in Russian). 20 January 2009. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Управделами президента: Константиновский дворец президентской резиденцией не является" [Presidential Administration: The Konstantinovsky Palace is not a presidential residence]. Gazeta.SPb (in Russian). 13 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  22. ^ "Медведев и Путин поменяются кабинетами, но не резиденциями" [Medvedev and Putin will exchange offices, but not residences]. «РИА Новости» (in Russian). 7 March 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  23. ^ Jankowicz, Mia. "Putin has ramped up air defenses at his palace to protect it from Ukrainian drones: report". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  24. ^ "Steel Ring of Security: Vladimir Putin's secret palace under heavy guard following Ukraine drone incursion". The Economic Times. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
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