The Lotta (, , , and ) is a river that is part of the
watercourse
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...
of the Tuloma. It flows through the eastern parts of the municipalities of Inari and
Sodankylä
Sodankylä (; ; ; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 ( E63) and along Highway 4 ( E75). The Kitinen River flows near the center of Sodankylä. Its neighbouring mun ...
in
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the northwestern part of the country, with a total land area of . Its only internal border is the Republic of Karelia to the south, and it is bor ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. Before the Pechenga area was ceded to the Russians, the entire river was within Finland's borders.
The Lutto starts from a small lake, Lake Lutto, in the northern part of the village of
Saariselkä
Saariselkä (; ; ) is a fell area in Lapland, northern Finland. It is located in the Inari, Savukoski and Sodankylä municipalities. The highest point is high Mt Sokosti. The range is mostly two-billion-year-old granulite. The last ice age end ...
. From there, the river flows eastward, occasionally hugging the border between Inari and Sodankylä. Near Raja-Jooseppi, it enters Russia, turns northeast and empties into the western side of the
Verkhnetulomskoye Reservoir
The Verkhnetulomskoye Reservoir () is a large reservoir on the Kola Peninsula, Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It impounds the river Tuloma (river), Tuloma. It was constructed in 1964-1965, and has an area of 745 km².Tuloma. The river's most significant tributary on the Finnish side of the border is the Suomu.
Лотта is also a nickname for Russian road 47А-059.