MOSCOW: A Kremlin envoy has proposed that Russia and the United States build a “Putin-Trump” rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link their countries.
Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, made the suggestion to unlock joint exploration of natural resources and symbolise unity.
The proposed construction project would cost $8 billion and be funded by Moscow and international partners to build a 70-mile rail and cargo link.
Dmitriev floated the idea after Putin spoke to US President Donald Trump by phone and agreed to meet in Budapest to seek a way to stop the war in Ukraine.
Asked about the idea during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump called it interesting while Zelenskiy said he was not happy with the proposal.
Dmitriev wrote on X that the dream of a US–Russia link via the Bering Strait reflects an enduring vision from historical plans like the 1904 Siberia–Alaska railway.
The Bering Strait, 51 miles wide at its narrowest point, separates Russia’s Chukotka region from Alaska with ideas to link them circulating for at least 150 years.
Dmitriev suggested US energy majors could join Russian projects in the Arctic and proposed The Boring Company, owned by Elon Musk, could build the tunnel.
He wrote to Musk on X that traditional costs for such a project are over $65 billion but The Boring Company’s technology could reduce it to under $8 billion.
There was no immediate public response from Musk regarding the tunnel proposal.
Building and upgrading infrastructure on both sides of the strait in Chukotka and Alaska would cost a huge sum beyond the tunnel itself.
Dmitriev noted that a plan for a “Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge” over the strait had been floated during the Cold War.
He posted a historical sketch showing the potential route such a link might have taken between the two nations.
Dmitriev stated that RDIF has already invested in and built the first ever Russia-China railroad bridge.
He declared that the time has come to connect the continents for the first time in human history by linking Russia and the US. – Reuters
