The Volga–Baltic Waterway (Russian: Волгобалт, romanized: Volgobalt), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система, romanized: Mariinskaya vodnaya sistema), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva.

The prototype (via) Vyshny Volochyok canal completed by 1709, provided a connection of Saint Petersburg to Lake Ladoga.

The system was further expanded: three more canals, Belozersky, Onezhsky, and Novoladozhsky, enabling smaller craft to bypass dangerous waters of the three big lakes (Beloye, Onega and Ladoga), were inaugurated towards the end of the century.

Since the 1990s the Volga–Baltic Waterway has grown as a tour boat route to sail and/or motor along or around the Golden Ring of Russia.

Thus the summit pound of the canal between Pakhomovo locks on Vytegra and Sheksna Reservoir dam is 278 kilometres (173 mi).

It comprises an artificial canal that is 40 kilometres (25 mi) long, much of the Kovzha, Lake Beloye, and part of the Sheksna.

According to the Maritime Board (Morskaya Kollegiya) of the Russian government, 17.6 million tons of cargo were carried over the Volga–Baltic Waterway in 2004, close to its maximum capacity.