Lake Onega in the context of "Balto-Finnic languages"

The Finnic or Baltic Finnic languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 million speakers, who live mainly in Finland and Estonia.

Traditionally, eight Finnic languages have been recognized. The major modern representatives of the family are Finnish and Estonian, the official languages of their respective nation states. The other Finnic languages in the Baltic Sea region are Ingrian and Votic, spoken in Ingria by the Gulf of Finland, and Livonian, once spoken around the Gulf of Riga. Spoken farther northeast are Karelian, Ludic, and Veps, in the region of Lakes Onega and Ladoga.

The White Sea–Baltic Canal (Russian: Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л, romanized: Belomórsko-Baltíyskiy kanál), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (Belomorkanal), is a man-made ship canal in Russia. Opening on 2 August 1933, it connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with Lake Onega, which is further connected to the Baltic Sea. Until 1961, it was called by its original name: the Stalin White Sea–Baltic Canal (Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal imeni Stalina).

The canal was constructed by forced labor of gulag inmates. Beginning and ending with a labor force of 126,000, between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died according to official records, while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths.

Olonets Karelia (Finnish: Aunuksen Karjala, shortened. Aunus; Karelian: Anuksen Karjala, shortened. Anus; Russian: Олонецкая Карелия, romanized: Olonetskaja Karelija) is a historical and cultural region and the southern portion of East Karelia, which is currently part of Russia. Olonets Karelia is located between the other historical regions of Ladoga Karelia, to its west, White Karelia, to its north, the River Svir, to its south and Lake Onega on its eastern side. Olonets Karelia is home to its own dialect of the Karelian language, which is known as Livvi Karelian or sometimes as 'Olonets Karelian'.

The largest city in the Olonets Karelia region is Petrozavodsk, followed by Kondopoga, Segezha and Medvezhyegorsk.

The Barents Region is a name given, by advocates of establishing international cooperation after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the land along the coast of the Barents Sea, from Nordland county in Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and beyond all the way to the Ural Mountains and Novaya Zemlya, and south to the Gulf of Bothnia of the Baltic Sea and the great lakes Ladoga and Onega. Among the projects is the Barents Road from Bodø in Norway through Haparanda in Sweden and Finland to Murmansk in Russia. The region has six million inhabitants on 1.75 million km; three quarters of both belong to Russia.

The regional cooperation was formally opened on 11 January 1993, initiated by Norway under foreign minister Thorvald Stoltenberg. It includes Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark counties in Norway; Västerbotten County and Norrbotten County in Sweden; Lapland region, Northern Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and North Karelia in Finland; and Murmansk Oblast, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Komi Republic, Republic of Karelia, and Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Russia. The four countries take turns at chairing the cooperation. Norway's participation is coordinated from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat in Kirkenes. Sweden's and Finland's participation is administrated from the county administrations in Umeå (Västerbotten) and Rovaniemi (Lapland). In January 2008 there was established an International Barents Secretariat which is to provide technical support for the multilateral coordinated activities within the framework of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Barents Regional Council. This Secretariat is located in Kirkenes in the same building as the Norwegian Barents Secretariat.

Petrozavodsk (Russian: Петрозаводск, IPA: [pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk]; Karelian, Veps and Finnish: Petroskoi; Ludian: Petrouskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some 27 kilometers (17 mi). The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022.

Livvi-Karelian (Alternate names: Liygi, Livvi, Livvikovian, Olonets, Southern Olonetsian, Karelian; Russian: ливвиковское наречие, romanized: livvikovskoye narechiye) is a supradialect of Karelian, which is a Finnic language of the Uralic family, spoken by Olonets Karelians (self-appellation livvi, livgilaizet), traditionally inhabiting the area between Ladoga and Onega lakes, northward of Svir River.

The name "Olonets Karelians" is derived from the territory inhabited, Olonets Krai, named after the town of Olonets, named after the Olonka River.

Ludic, Ludian, or Ludic Karelian (Luudi, Lyydi or lüüdi), is a Finnic language in the Uralic language family or a third supradialect of Karelian. It is transitional between the Olonets Karelian language and the Veps language. It is spoken by 300 Karelians in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, near the southwestern shore of Lake Onega, including a few children.