Sestra River, the

Subject / Topography/Reservoirs and waterways
SESTRA (Swedish Systerback, Finnish Rajajoki / “Frontier River”), a river in Vsevolozhsk and Vyborg Districts of Leningrad Oblast and in St. Petersburg. Length: 74 km. Depth: up to 3 m (in the mouth.) Catchment area: 393 sq. km. It begins in a marsh 5 km north of the Termolovo Tract (Vsevolozhsk District), and it flows into Lake Sestroretsky Razliv. The toponym S. is probably based on the Karelian word siehtari = “black currant.” First mentioned as Sestreya River in the text of the Oreshek Peace Treaty (1323), it was a natural boundary defining the frontier between Sweden and Novgorod lands. A frontier mark, a stone with a carved cross (the so-called cross stone) has survived in the middle reach of S. In the 18th century, S. served as a border of Vyborg Gubernia and St. Petersburg Gubernia, and from 1811, between Russia and the Grand Principality of Finland. In the 1930s, permanent weapon emplacements were built on the left bank of S. as part of the Soviet Karelian Permanent Fortified Sector (KaUR.) Leninskoye Settlement is on the bank of S. Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Topographical landmarks/Chyornaya River, the
Neighbouring Territories/Finland
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vyborg District/Leninskoye Settlement
Historical Toponyms/Saint Petersburg Gubernia, the
Topographical landmarks/Sestroretsk Flood Plain
Topographical landmarks/Termolovo,
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vyborg District
Historical Toponyms/Vyborg Gubernia
Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная Ч. 1: Юго-Западный сектор. /Авт.-сост. Балашов Е.А. СПб., 1996., С.61-67