Can one sail from the Volga to the Atlantic?

Yes. At Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) there are canals which lead to the Don River, which empties into the Black Sea, which communicates with the Mediterranean Sea, and thereby with the Atlantic.

By the way, the Russians have used their river systems for trade quite literally for centuries. I can't say when the canal linking the Volga and the Don was built, but i believe it would have been when Petr Alexeevitch was the Emperor (he is known as Peter the Great), or it might have been when his father, Alexei Mikhailovitch was Tsar.

Another possibilty is using the various Russian waterways (rivers, lakes, canals) and go to the Baltic Sea and from there via Kiel Canal to the German Sea and to the Atlantic


Or go to the Black Sea, from there on the Danube, then the Danube-Rhine-Canal, then the Rhine River, then German Sea and Atlantic.

It's amazing how well the Russians used their river systems for the purposes of trade. Petr Alexeevitch hoped to engross the trade with the far east using their river system, which allowed them to communicate with either the Baltic or the Black Seas. He didn't, of course, take over that eastern trade, but first his father and he himself dramatically increased Russia's "market share" of the eastern trade.

The Russian waterways as they are today






The pic ...



... on this Russian site (you can enlarge it) gives an idea about the "Volga-Baltic-Canal"