Original: Rising in the Valdai Hills  above sea level north-west of Moscow and about  south-east of Saint Petersburg, the Volga heads east past Lake Sterzh, Tver, Dubna, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan.
Simplified: It rises in the Valdai Hills of Russia, 225m above sea level north-west of Moscow.